The Jenova planet
by MeridaPevensie
Summary: Daniel has just returned from Vis Uban and wants his life to get back to normal, but one of the Ancients has other plans. Avalanche has had 5 peaceful years since the Reunion. Nothing ever stays peaceful for long.Why isn't saving the world a 1 time thing?
1. Prologue: Another Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Final Fantasy VII or any other Final Fantasy game. I also do not own any of the characters from the Stargate series. I am not making any money from this, I only like to toy with the characters before I hand them back to their owners. Any original characters I do own and I would greatly appreciate it if you asked before borrowing them.

Prologue:

Another Dream

Mist enclosed him on all sides and the smell of flowers surrounded him. As far as he could see there were only white and yellow blooms, stretching out on every side.

"Oh no, not this dream again" He had been visited by this same dream every night for the past 2 months. In the morning he would only remember bits and pieces of the conversations and places. The dreams disturbed his sleep terribly and left him with a faint feeling of apprehension that not even his best friend of a good cup of coffee could sooth. The nights that he managed to go back to sleep after one of these dreams could be counted on his fingers. "This is really getting old you know. Why can't you just come right out and say what it is you want, all these cryptic dream messages are kind of cliché. I would expect something like this from Jack, but from you?"

Laughter like a fall of water of pebbles rang out behind him. "So you've finally remembered who I am?"

"No, I just get the feeling that cryptic isn't usually your way of handling things." He remained in one position, but she moved from where she was standing and into his line of sight. Her green eyes twinkled and her long brown hair and pink dress rippled in the soft breeze.

"Once you remember me, you'll know why I'm being cryptic. I've bent the rules close to breaking too many times all ready. You know what happens if they get too fed up. They've let me get away with it so far because of _who_ I was helping. People who save the world get special favors."

"I've saved the world a few times, can I cash in on those favors now?"

"You already did."

"Of course, wouldn't want to make it too easy. Well if we're talking rules that prevent you from interfering with people and events in the outside world, you must be an Ancient."

"Got it in one. They don't call you a genius for nothing."

"What's my prize?"

"It's never that easy, you have to remember who I am first." She looked off into the mist with a distant look on her face. "I wish we had more time, but you need to remember. There isn't much time left. Things are going to get bad, all that work and it's still not done. There are people that need your help, whole planets that will fall if you can't remember. It's there, it's all there, buried away, and you'll find the key soon." The longer she spoke the more agitated she became. Her comments came quicker and even more cryptic than before. "I can't stay any longer, it's not safe here."

"Can't you give me a clue to get me started; I'll be flying blind otherwise." The edges of the dream began to blur together, like a watercolor left out in the rain.

"The Cetra, Midgar, they hold the answer." She began to fade out of the scenery. As she disappeared a shudder went down his spine. She might be gone, but he was definitely not alone. He'd developed a sixth sense about being watched, one of the many side effects of working for the military. From somewhere in the blurred edges of the landscape someone was watching him, maliciously. Dark laughter bounced off the mist. That was definitely new.

"Don't fret, you won't have to deal with these dreams much longer. They'll all die, they'll pay, and we can never forgive them."

"Who's there?" There was no answer, only more laughter that skirted the edge of sanity and felt like it was clawing at the edges of his brain. Suddenly the field around him, and it seemed the mist as well, burst into flames. Shielding his eyes from the heat he saw a flash of silver hair in the periphery of his vision and the world around him cracked like a mirror smashing into a wall.

* * *

He awoke screaming. The pounding of his heart was drowned out by the pounding of his best friend's feet on the floor as he burst into Daniel's room. "Nightmare, Danny?" he asked in an alert voice that made it hard to believe he had been asleep just minutes before.

Daniel shook his head "It was the same dream that I've been having since Vis Uban."

Jack looked skeptical, well at least as skeptical as one could look at 0300. "You've never woken up screaming from one of those dreams before, I would know. You've been living here since they let you move off base." Once Daniel's memories had begun to come back and Frasier had been sure there were no negative effects from Daniel's year with Oma he had been allowed to live off-base. Of course he once again had no place to live and Jack had told him with his habit of dying it would probably be easier if he just moved into his spare room.

"It was the same dream, Jack. But the end…it was different. Someone else was there." Jack looked surprised.

"It's always just been you and the mystery girl before right?"

"Yeah" Daniel shuddered. "Whoever this new one was, they definitely didn't seem friendly. She seemed scared there at the end of the dream, she's never been scared before."

"Everything started burning, even the air."Daniel shivered at the memory of the laughter he had heard. "Whatever this is, Jack. Whatever this woman is trying to warn me about, I…I think it's getting closer. I need to figure this out."

"Anything new to work with tonight?"

"She's an Ancient, I know that for sure now. She did say something else new. Something about The Cetra and something called Midgar." Daniel pulled himself out of bed, his brain rushing to put together the pieces of the puzzle. "I need to write this down while it's fresh and start looking for any mentions of this in the Ancient texts that have been translated so far. I think my book on Norse mythology is still at the Mountain though. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to look it over."

"Norse? Are you saying that Thor and Loki and the rest of the little grey guys might be mixed up in this too?" Jack did not look pleased.

"I'm not sure, but Midgar is referenced in Norse mythology I'm fairly certain. It could be just a coincidence, but…"

"You know how I feel about coincidences."

"Exactly Jack and I feel the same way. If the Asgard are involved as well as the Ancients, this is going to be big." Jack let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm going back to bed Danny. I'll be no good tomorrow if I lose my beauty sleep."

"Jack, you need a lot more than six hours to get any beauty back." Jack shoved Daniel in the back as they walked out to the hall. Jack walked back to his bedroom, while Daniel walked downstairs to the den, which had been partially taken over by his research, despite Jack's complaints that he shouldn't bring his work home with him.

Jack groaned. They were going to have to talk to Hammond about the dreams again tomorrow; great way to start out the week. He punched his pillow into a new shape and tried to go back to sleep.

A/N: I'm not entirely sure why I've never seen this crossover done more often. It seems so obvious to me, but I've always been weird. I hope to write this crossover in a way that will make it worth reading. Thus saying, I'm not terribly familiar with SG-1 past the 4th season, as I've only watched a bit here and there that far into the series. If I ruin something in the canon please contact me and I'll try to fix it. The story departs from Canon after Daniel returns in season 7 and will not return to the canon for two reasons. 1.) It simply won't fit for this story at all and 2.) I'm not a big fan of the last 3 seasons. As for FF:VII, I know much more about the game, Advent Children and Last Order, but I've never played Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core, so details there will be practically non-existent except for what I glean online and from my brother.

A/N2: I should also mention that I don't write fanfiction often and it takes a lot for me to like a crossover at all. I'm hoping that I will write this one well enough that others will like it as well.

Reviews are greatly appreciated, Flames will be read and then used to make roasted sunflower seeds.


	2. Chapter One: Playing Catch Up

Chapter One:

A/N: I'm a big fan of long exposition and slow development for characters. I swear this story is going somewhere, but I want to actually build a plot here and make this crossover work. In fact I have a plot line, so I do know where this is going basically.

Not all of the pairings in this story are my personal OTPs, but they seemed to be the ones that would work. Not that I have anything against Cloud/Tifa, it's just not my normal choice. So my writing of it may be a bit off. Any OOC-ness of the characters from FF:VII I'm choosing to explain as character growth. Vincent won't be as broody, Yuffie won't be as hyper, Cloud is less emo and all the characters will probably have changed a bit… but hey, it's been a few years for them. Everyone grows up eventually.

* * *

Somewhere on the outer edge of the city of Midgar there is a bar that serves better than average beer and food that doesn't taste like it's made from reprocessed monster parts, which is definitely a step up from many of the bars in the city. It's a popular place, people travel from the other side of the city just to spend an evening with their friends in the quiet atmosphere of the bar. Its name is 7th Heaven and the peaceful quality has sometimes been attributed, jokingly, to protection from a higher power. When someone made that joke to the proprietor of the place, she got a sort of strange look on her face and just said that maybe there was some truth to that. Of course unless this higher power has hair like a chocobo and a sword as tall as he is, then those patrons would be wrong. In the last 7 years the regular patrons can only remember one major fight ever breaking out and they have a love for repeating the story to every new-comer, the story gets wilder every time, but at least it keeps angry words and fighting down inside the establishment.

The tale goes that about 5 years ago, right after the GeoStigma was cured. There was a group of guys that came in looking to celebrate their good fortune at the miraculous cure of 3 of them. One of the more belligerent drinkers told them that they were full of shit and this whole "cure" was just another Shinra lie, that Shinra was just paying off people to lie about the Stigma. Of course the 5 men took offense at being called liars and having more than a little alcohol coursing through their systems, they decided to teach the old man a thing or two about manners. Unfortunately for them, this particular guy had friends…several of them in fact and when they kicked the guy out he found them and brought them back to the bar. The five idiots who had started it were outnumbered 2 to 1 and neither group was thinking rationally. Just as the fight started heating up and they actually began to do some damage to themselves and the furniture the barkeep, a beautiful young women with long black hair, hopped over the bar and kicked one of the rabble-rousers right in the head. He was drunk enough that he crumpled to the ground and suddenly his buddies were turning on her. Now she was good, but 9 to 1 aren't good odds for anyone and the 5 guys who had started this whole problem were sneaking out the back. At least they were before a man carrying the biggest sword they had ever seen came walking down the stairs at the back of the room. He gave them an indifferent look and told them to get out and if they ever came back they'd be breathing through a brand new hole in the neck. They took him seriously and were out the door so fast it seemed someone had cast haste on them. He told the other group that they should probably do the same. These weren't some young punks though and they figured they could take one pretty boy and his girlfriend too with no problem. 6 of the guys rushed him, while 3 continued to fight the barkeep. The swordsman dispatched all 6 of the guys, using the flat of his blade, in about 15 seconds and the other 3 didn't do any better at all. By the end of the fight there were 10 unconscious men lying in the gutter outside 7th Heaven, all looking the worse for wear. If it were possible for statuary to look smug, the angel looking down from its perch above the street would have been doing just that.

There hadn't been a fight in or near the bar since the incident. Most of that had to do with the tale of the bars new "bouncer", but some of it might have to do with the rumor spread by those same five guys that swore up and down that the man that had tossed them out was the same one who had defeated that summoned monster in Midgar and that the barkeep and their various other friends had been involved too. Most people told them that they were full of shit, but the possibility was enough to keep people from starting anything in 7th Heaven. After all, who wants to tangle with people who could bring down a monster that size?

Of course the pure and simple truth was that, unless you were enhanced with Mako energy or the by-product of terribly genetic experimentation, there was no way you'd be a challenge for Cloud Strife or Tifa Lockhart. Unfortunately there are only a few select people that are aware of the part they played in stopping Meteor 7 years prior or stopping the destruction of the world once again 5 years later in a battle that destroyed most of what was still standing in the ruins of Sector 7 and the only people in that group were the others who had participated. Saving the world can be kind of frustrating, as their friend Yuffie put it. You do all that work and save everyone and then they never even realize it happened. Marlene, the adopted daughter of Barret Wallace former AVALANCHE leader and co-saver of the world, told Yuffie that saving the world was kind of its own reward and besides doing nice things for people made you feel good. Yuffie had just laughed and said she would rather have reward in the form of expensive gifts. Marlene had just frowned at her disapprovingly and gone to play with Denzel, Tifa and Cloud's unofficial adopted child. That had been 5 years ago, right after the attempted resurrection of Sephiroth and Aerith's intervention in curing GeoStigma.

Since that battle things had been relatively peaceful on Gaia, though relative to the world almost being destroyed by a raving mad man created through experiments with alien life leaves a pretty wide margin for what is considered peaceful. Most of the group had gone their separate ways, but there was nearly constant contact between them. Saving the world a couple of times really creates a bond between people.

Cloud groaned and rolled over, reaching over to the other side of the bed he searched for the person that he had gone to bed with the night before. He grudgingly opened his eyes when he found no trace of her. This made no sense whatsoever to his sleep addled brain. Last night, being their 2nd anniversary, had been a rather late and tiring night. Both Marlene and Denzel had left last week with Cid to be dropped off in Wutai with Yuffie for a 2 week vacation, which was really more of a vacation for Cloud and Tifa than it was for them. With them both gone there couldn't be anything that Tifa needed to handle for them.

Lying still in the bed, he could not here any noise from the bathroom so he surmised that she had left the room and was probably downstairs. Grumbling, Cloud dragged himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

It was hard to believe that he and Tifa had been married for 2 years already. After his near death in the battle at Sector 7 with Kadaj and Sephiroth and his subsequent "Dilly-Dallying", as Aerith had put it, his relationship with Tifa began to grow. He was no longer tied to his guilt. He would always remember Aerith and always love her, but he had managed to put away that memory and begin to live for his friends, his family. After 2 years of cautious "dating" on his part and definite encouragement on the behalf of everyone, Marlene and Denzel especially, there was a definite spark. For nearly a year Tifa dropped hint after hint about marriage, each one less subtle than the last. However, for all that Cloud was an amazing swordsman, he was still incredibly dense and after nearly a year of this particular song and dance everyone was groaning in frustration and Cid, _(CID!), _had taken pity on him and sat him down to talk about the dreaded 'C' word. That is commitment. Cloud finally got the picture and began planning an entirely over the top romantic evening, of course that just ruined the surprise and half way through the date (during which he was incredibly nervous) Tifa finally just broke down and said "Just ask the damn question, Chocobo head. I'm going to say yes." Cloud had nearly collapsed in shock.

"Was I that obvious?" He asked, surprised.

"Well yeah, once you started going on about reservations and bringing me flowers and pulling out my chair for me it was pretty much an open/shut case."

And that was that. He'd asked and she'd said yes and less than 2 months later they'd been married. The whole thing was sort of surreal even now, not to mention then. If anyone had told him 7 years ago if he was going to marry Tifa Lockhart he would have found it exceedingly funny…well as funny as he found anything back then anyway. People really did change as they got older he mused. He exited the shower and dressed quickly, his hair remained un-gelled and hanging down around his head. He had once contemplated getting rid of his tall gelled locks, but Tifa had stopped that idea quickly. Saying that while he may look like a chocobo, she still liked it and besides if he got rid of it Barret would have to find a new nickname for him. Spiky wouldn't make any sense if his hair was normal after all.

Cloud walked down the stairs from his and Tifa's room and wandered into the room of the bar. He spotted Tifa easily enough standing behind the bar with a phone tucked between her shoulder and ear and going through the accounts from last night. Because of their anniversary she had been forced to find someone to cover the bar for her. Cloud honestly didn't want to know what sort of blackmail she had on Rude and Reno that would make them take a turn playing bar keep and bouncer for the night, but he had to admit it had been rather amusing when Reno ended up playing the latter and Rude the former. It was definitely not the stereotypical set up for those two. However, Tifa did not trust Reno to make anything for human ingestion. Rude had confided in her that on their last anniversary Reno had decided to make a romantic gesture and cook dinner for Rude and the night had regrettably ended in the ER. On the other hand, Rude could make a great meal out of just about everything and as for acting as a bar keep, he could mix at least a dozen drinks from memory. How he had learned to do that while being a Turk was a mystery that no one had yet solved.

Tifa smiled at Cloud as she continued talking on the phone.

"Really, Marlene? That was very nice of Yuffie to teach you knife throwing, but I have a feeling that you shouldn't mention it to your father. How are you and Denzel doing Wutai?" There was a pause as she listened to the teen's answer. "I'm glad you're having fun then. You can stay for as long as Yuffie will let you, but come home whenever you want." Another pause "Bye Marlene, can you put Yuffie on? Thanks." Cloud walked up behind Tifa and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"What's up? I didn't expect you to be gone when I got up."

"Vincent phoned early this morning. What were we thinking getting him a cell phone? He is a menace with that thing now. Anyway, once I was up I couldn't get back to sleep and I decided to check the books and then Marlene called."

"Vincent called, what did he need?" Vincent did call fairly often since he had gotten a cell phone as a gift from the rest of the gang, but he never called when he knew it would inconvenience others. He kept track of dates like anniversaries and birthdays and Cloud doubted he would have called this morning unless it was important.

"He wanted to talk to you about something he found at the Temple. I'll tell you what he said after I talk to Yuffie about her extracurricular activities for Marlene and Denzel." She paused and pulled the phone up to her mouth. "Yuffie? Yeah, it's Tifa. Look I don't care if you teach Marlene self-defense and I'm not particular about what sort of weapons you use, but if Barrett finds out you've been teaching her to throw knives, I will not be responsible for the situation you find yourself in." She paused to listen to Yuffie's response "Okay then, it's on your head. How are you doing? Has Nanaki been around recently?" Cloud left her to catch up on news, knowing she would fill him in later. He left through the back door into the small parking lot behind the bar. Even only 5 years after the world had stopped using Mako energy for fuel there was still a remarkable amount of vehicles on the streets of Midgar. The automobile companies had been the first people to offer jobs to people like Barrett, who were finding alternate fuel sources. The parking lot behind the bar was tiny, but luckily the majority of their costumers were local enough that they walked to the bar from their office or home. The shed at the back of the bar contained one of Cloud's most prized possessions, his motorcycle Fenrir.

At least two hours passed unnoticed as he worked on the bike. At one time he would have spent hours training to clear his head, but since he had let go of the past he found it more stressful to spend his hours feeling like a member of SOLDIER. His hobbies had changed and he found himself with a knack for car repair and his hobby had soon branched out into a small business that supplemented what Tifa made running the bar.

Just as Cloud was beginning to get hungry for lunch there was a knock on the door of the workshop and Tifa stuck her head in the door. "I made some lunch if you're hungry."

"Yeah, I was just getting ready to come in." Cloud followed her in and began washing up in the kitchen. "So what's new in Wutai?"

"Well Nanaki is there at the moment, but he still disappears every now and again. He's still searching for the others of his kind. Yuffie keeps telling him that if we didn't find them while we were crisscrossing Gaia before Meteor that he's never going to find them, but he's so stubborn." Tifa shook her head with a sad look.

Cloud grinned "Maybe they built a spaceship and flew away."

"Don't start on that around Cid, he'll start spouting off about rockets and space exploration again. Vincent is the most patient man in the world; I would probably start throwing things if I had to put up with Cid for a boyfriend."

"If Cid heard you call him Vincent's 'boyfriend' he'd blow a gasket you know; and what about my obsession with car parts and swords? You've never even gotten close to throwing things at me…"

"That's 'cause you're just so darn cute." Tifa said and reached to ruffle Cloud's un-spiked hair. He dodged and glared at her.

"Not funny, I'm not five you know."

"I would hope not. That would mean I married a three year old." Tifa teased him.

"Ugh, Tif, I was speaking metaphorically." Cloud rolled his eyes at her and sat down at the table where a plate of sandwiches sat in the middle along with a pot of soup.

"Ooh, that was a mighty big word for an ex-soldier*" Tifa sat in the chair directly across from him and they began to eat.

"Hush you" Cloud responded to her teasing in an equally teasing manner. "So what was Vince calling about this morning that was so important?"

"'Vince'? You do realize that he would disembowel you if you ever called him that to his face right?"

"Cid calls him that all the time!"

"Cid is sleeping with him, which garners special privileges you know." Tifa said matter of factly. "So unless there is something else going on between you two that I should know about, I'm pretty sure you don't get to call him 'Vince'."

"You are so juvenile Tifa, sometimes I wonder if you really are 27."

"That's because I'm not. I started aging backwards as soon as I hit 25. I'm surprised you didn't notice."

Cloud snorted "So what did _Vincent_ call about?"

"He didn't want to discuss it over the phone, but he apparently found some really odd journals at the Temple and he thinks that you would be interested in seeing them. Something related to Jenova and the Ancients. He didn't say much, but you know he's paranoid about what he says over phone lines."

"Old habits die hard, Tif. During the days of SOLDIER and Shinra, phone calls made by both SOLDIERs and Turks were listened to by security agents. You mentioned the wrong thing to the wrong person and you probably would disappear before you could report for duty the next day." Cloud shook his head sorrowfully. "There was a boy in my class as a 2nd year cadet, his name was Ortiz on the paperwork, but his real name was Xien Zhi, his mother was from Wu Tai and was involved in the resistance. He heard a rumor about a raid that was going to occur in her village and he called to warn her. No one saw him again after that."

Tifa grimaced; it was obvious what had happened to the boy. Anyone who went against Shinra met a swift end and rarely escaped. Cloud shook himself out of his memories of the past.

"Sorry, Tif, I shouldn't bring up such morbid things at lunch. I'll head out the Temple tomorrow morning, if Vincent thinks I need to see something it's probably pretty important. He's too level headed to get worried about something unimportant."

"You could head over there after lunch if you think it's important" Tifa told him while finishing off her sandwich. Cloud protested quickly.

"I can't do that, yesterday was our anniversary!"

"yes, yes it was. And today is not our anniversary. I have quite a bit to do before I open tonight. I'll be fine; this is Vincent we are talking about. If he says it's important then it's really important." Tifa began to clear up her dishes and snatched Cloud's away as soon as he'd finished his food.

"What if there's a fight? You won't have a bouncer."

"When was the last time there was fight here Cloud?" Cloud puzzled over that for a moment, not being able to remember any recent outbreaks of violence in the bar. "Anything that happens I'll be able to handle and Natasha Miller's daughter, Emily, is coming in to waitress tonight. We'll be fine without you for a couple of days while you visit Vincent."

"Okay, you've convince me. I'll head out soon I suppose, I'll call Vincent before I leave, let him know I'm coming." Cloud got up from the table and gave Tifa a kiss before going upstairs to retrieve his cell phone and to change into something more appropriate for the drive to the Cetra Temple. Vincent had been spending quite a bit of time there since he had found that Khaos gave him the ability to read the Ancient's language. It was a poor trade for all the trouble the seemingly demonic creature had caused him over the years, but Vincent used to his advantage. He believed that the knowledge he could gain from the Cetra would be useful. The Temple had been used as a repository for the knowledge of the Ancients of Gaia and most of it had remained intact for hundreds of years since the Cetra fell.

Cloud came back down stairs to find Tifa looking over inventory and Emily washing dishes. He nodded and said good afternoon to Emily, which got him a blush and a giggle response that could have been "good afternoon" as well. He shook his head at that and walked over to Tifa.

"If you're absolutely sure you won't be needing me…"

"Leave" Tifa said with a laugh and then shoved him toward the back door. "We will be fine, call me when you get there and let me know what Vincent needed to see you about. I'm just as interested as you are." She made shooing motions with her hands until he finally winked at her and left through the back door. Fenrir was brought out of the shed with no trouble and within 20 minutes Cloud had left the sprawling metropolis of Midgar behind him as he headed south toward the Temple of the ancients.

*A/N: I'm using the small case soldier in this case. As we all know Cloud was never actually in SOLDIER, but he did fight in a military.


	3. Chapter Two: Daniel and ResearchPB&J

A/N: The chapters will trade off between Gaia and Earth for a while. Eventually the two will meet, but till then I want to give each side equal time to develop. Sg-2 gets a cameo appearance sometime soon!

Oh, and I know you people out there are reading this. You see there is this little hit counter on my author page that tells me how many hits my stories get. Commenting is nice you know. Santa doesn't bring Christmas gifts to people who read a story and don't leave comments for the poor, weary author who writes for you. So please please please comment. I'll love you all forever if you do.

I don't currently have a beta reader, all mistakes are my own. If someone is interested in Betaing this story then please PM me.

* * *

As the second in command of one of the largest top secret military organizations in the United States and the leader of the universally famous flagship team of the SGC Jack got a lot of perks; he got to save the world on a yearly basis and he was on first name basis with the President of the United States. Not many people got to say either of those things. The only problem was the paperwork. He was considering asking Carter if it was possible for his paperwork to be breeding. He was certain there was more here today than there had been yesterday. Maybe this was an alien plot against him. The Go'auld had finally found his weakness and they had found a way to get rid of him. Or perhaps his paperwork had been tampered with and was now some replicator technology. A knock at his door interrupted his thought process and he looked up as General Hammond entered his office.

"Looks like you got those requisition forms that I had sent over last night. I'll need those finished as soon as possible." Oh, Jack thought. Not a Go'auld or Replicator trick to send me to an early grave. Just George Hammond plotting my early demise, that's fine then.

"Yes sir, I've got plenty of time on my hands to catch up on paperwork" he barely flinched at the hated word "since Carters recovering at home for the next few days." Carter had received a glancing, but debilitating, wound from a staff weapon on their last mission and Frasier wasn't willing to put her back on active duty or even allow her to do desk work till the wound had begun healing. Sometimes the Doc's mother henning was actually worse than Jack's own.

"Good, I'm not putting SG-1 back on mission rotation for another week at least. That should leave you plenty of time to make dent in the pile that's in your inbox." Hammond looked positively smug and Jack was certain he knew that Jack was dying inside at those words. He silently prayed for an invasion of earth or a request for SG-1 from one of their allies, even if they would have to go without Carter. He waited a moment, no alarms rang, no unscheduled gate activations occurred. He cursed under his breath.

"Sir, was there something else you needed?" He asked when he noticed Hammond had not left his office yet.

"Dr. Jackson had another of his dreams last night didn't he?"

"Uh, yes sir. What clued you in?"

"He forgot about a briefing for SG-4 that he was supposed to be involved in. I sent someone for him and they found him hip deep in research even though he doesn't have any projects going currently."

"Yeah, well, you know our Danny. He's always researching something, but his dream last night is probably the cause of this latest frenzy."

"These dreams are happening more frequently now than they were when we first brought him back to earth. Do you think he will be a danger to the rest of the team?"

"No sir, he's fine during the day. Well…except for the major amounts of research, but that's not really different for him. I really think you should hear about this latest dream from him sir."

"I was just about to go speak with him about that. He'll be meeting me in my office shortly. I wanted to know if you would like to join us?"Hammond already knew the answer to that question. This was Danny for crying out loud, he is Jack's best friend. Besides, it would get me out of doing his paperwork for a bit longer.

* * *

Daniel was in the middle of reading a particularly wordy and in depth book of Norse mythology when an airman knocked on the door to his office and poked his head in. Daniel looked up over the edge of the book, and nodded at him.

"Dr. Jackson, uh sir, the General wants to see you in his office."

"Thank you Airman."

"Not a problem Dr. Jackson" the Airman looked young, it was probably a sign of Daniel's age that every new group of recruits looked younger than the last. He also looked a little in awe of Daniel, which was something that he had never really gotten use to. Obviously he had done some, well legendary was probably the right word for many of SG-1's exploits, but he never really felt that he deserved the level of respect and awe that he was usually met with when he faced new recruits. Most of the people he worked with on a daily basis had known him since nearly the beginning of the program and had stopped treating as anything more special than one of the boys. Every time there was a new wave of recruiting on base Daniel found himself dodging what was quickly becoming a far to large group of fans. Jack thought it was amusing and, judging by his own crowd of fans, was doing nothing to discourage the VIP treatment of his team. Daniel placed a bookmark in the text he was reading and got too his feet with a loud sigh. The Airman, who was waiting just inside the door to escort him to the General's office, looked at him curiously.

"Are you alright Doctor?" he inquired.

"Yes, I'm fine. I didn't get much sleep last night. Thank you for asking Airman…" He paused and the Airman filled in the blank for him.

"Caro, Jensen Caro. I'm new to the base, sir."

"I could tell Airman Caro. The newness wears off pretty quickly, but all the new recruits have the same look on their face for about a month."

"Sir?" the Airman walked next to him down the hall toward the elevator.

"That amazed look that this place exists. It's like you're all expecting the mountain to just vanish, or you'll wake and find it's all been a dream. Don't worry, I felt the same way about the Stargate the first time I saw it."

"Yes sir, I do feel like it's all a bit unreal. I used to read a lot of science fiction in school; I never thought I'd be living it." They exited the elevator and Daniel parted ways with the young man.

"There's something to be said for living in a science fiction novel, Airman Caro." Daniel said with a grin.

"What's that sir?"

"The hero's always get the girl right?"

"Yes sir!" The Airman responded enthusiastically. Daniel laughed and shook his head as he walked through the briefing room door and knocked on General Hammond's door.

"Enter" Hammond said and Daniel opened the door to find Jack and the General both in the room. "Close the door son, Jack was telling me earlier that the dream you had last night was something I might be interested in." Daniel gave Jack an accusing look. He had not been quite ready to give a report on the incident last night, he had hoped to have more information on the two words the woman had used in the dream before he came to speak to General Hammond.

"Hey, not my fault Danny; the general is a real smart guy. He figured it out all on his own. You're frantic researching didn't precisely leave much to guess at y'know." He rolled his eyes at Daniel's glare and shoved a chair closer to him with his foot. "Have a seat Danny."

"General, I was going to speak to you about this soon. I wanted to do some research first so I would know what to say about the dream."

"Just give me the brief overview son, I know you'll tell me what you find on the subject, probably sooner rather than later, knowing you."

"Yes sir." Daniel sat down in the chair next to Jack and adjusted his glasses nervously before starting his tale. "The dream last night started out the same as all the others. I was in a field of flowers with a woman. She was trying to get me to remember who she is and I can't remember. I finally figured out that she was an Ancient" he paused when he saw the look on General Hammond's face. "Yes sir, I'm pretty sure that's why she's been so cryptic in all her communication with me. I suppose I must have known her during my year with Oma, but I can't remember who she is."

"So the Ancients are definitely involved?" Hammond asked.

"As far as I can tell that is very likely, there is a possibility that the Asgard are somehow involved as well, peripherally at least."

"Why would you say that Dr. Jackson?"

"Towards the end of the dream she got very agitated. She told me that things were about to get very bad and that whole planets would be destroyed. She also told me that I had the knowledge I needed, but it was locked away. I ask her for a clue and she mentioned the words Cetra and Midgar. I'm not sure what Cetra referred to, but Midgar could be a reference to Midgard. It was one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology, it was the world of men." He paused to let to two men absorb that information. "I'm reading through any translations we have of Ancient records to see if there is a reference to something called Cetra. I haven't had any luck yet, I'm hoping to find something soon."

"If the Asgard and the Ancients are involved then I agree this could be important, but Dr. Jackson are you certain that these aren't just dreams? You've obviously been through some very trying times recently, trying to regain your memory. These dreams might not be a message at all."

"With respect sir, this would hardly be the first time someone has thought I was crazy when I was actually right. I can tell the difference between a dream and a message. This is definitely not normal, I've never experienced reoccurring dreams before and this is definitely important." Daniel was beginning to get frustrated with people's constant disbelief that these were more than just casual dreams. Jack and Teal'c were the only two who seemed to except what he had told them at face value.

"Alright son, when you find anything more let me or the Colonel know. We both want to keep up any developments. You're both dismissed unless you have anything to add." The General looked down at his paperwork, clearly not thinking there was anything further. Jack rose and slapped Daniel on the shoulder.

"C'mon Danny, let's let the General get back to work. I need to get back to my office before my paperwork breeds again anyway." Daniel followed him out the office and through the briefing room. Daniel and Jack were both silent until they got in the elevator. Daniel leaned back against the wall of the elevator with an upset look on his face. "Okay Danny, what's the problem?"

"Nothing Jack."

"Not buying it Danny, you look like someone just killed a puppy." Jack had always been good at getting Daniel to admit whatever was bothering him, just as Daniel was good at breaking through Jack's jokes and finding out his problems. It was what made them such close friends.

"I'm just…frustrated. No one seems to be taking me seriously. I think Hammond is just humoring me."

"I think we've all learned our lesson about dismissing you when you say there's a problem Danny. I think Hammond is just giving you free reign to figure this thing out before he does anything." Daniel had to admit Jack could be right. It hardly mattered one way or the other though, he was going to continue researching this even if Jack and Teal'c were the only people who believed him. "Come get some coffee with me Danny, I'm in no hurry to get back to my office."

"You have to do your paperwork at some point Jack, the stack will just get bigger the longer you put it off." Jack very nearly pouted at that. "I have a coffee machine in my office in any case and I'm going to go recruit Teal'c to help me research. Maybe he'll recognize the references." Daniel turned down the next corridor, heading for Teal'c's quarters, leaving Jack in the middle of the hallway pondering how he could pawn his paperwork off on some other poor sucker. Not being able to find a suitable excuse he gave a weary sigh and slumped his shoulders as he headed back to his office.

* * *

Daniel threw his glasses onto his desk and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted after hours of research. He had taken a couple of hours to do translations for several new sites as well, though he was able to deflect most of the work to others in his department. Sometimes being the head of a department had perks. Several hours earlier Jack had come to his office and tried to get him to head home, using the excuse that since Jack had been his ride to work he needed to leave with him. Daniel hadn't been anywhere near done with his work and had declined the offer, telling Jack he would simply check a car out of the motor pool when he was ready to leave.

That had been around 8pm, it was now 1am and Daniel's eyes were burning from staring at old documents and his back ached from sitting hunched over his desk for most of the day. Teal'c had not known any references to Midgar, but that wasn't terribly surprising. He had recognized the word Cetra, but wasn't sure where he had heard it so that had once again been a dead end. As things stood he was far too exhausted to work anymore that night. He stood from his desk, preparing to leave. A wave of exhaustion passed over him and he swayed on his feet. He was in no shape to be driving, he considered going to his quarters on base for the night, but then just sat back down at his desk.

"I'll just close my eyes for a moment." He said quietly. The moment his eyes shut he fell into a deep sleep, his head drifting down to rest on the stack of files that covered his desk.

* * *

The field was the same as the last time he had seen it. There was no damage from the fire he had witnessed during the last dream however. She was standing in the same place as before. As he walked closer she leaned down to pick one of the flowers which she then placed in the basket she was carrying.

"Flower picking today?"

"The world needs more beauty, flowers are a good start don't you think?" Daniel smiled, she seemed much more relaxed than she had been when he last saw her.

"I suppose so, there are certainly plenty of them here. Why flowers, this doesn't seem like the normal place for an Ancient to impart wisdom."

"I can bring you here because this is my…place. It was created by my memories, this was my favorite place before I ascended. I…haven't been an Ancient very long Daniel. I'm still looking out for my family, but I wish I could do more. My powers are so limited, it frustrates me sometimes."

"I can't remember what it was like, but I guess I wasn't very good at conforming either. I mean, I did get kicked out."

"That's what I always liked about you Daniel. You remind me of Zach, you'll break the rules for the people you care about."She smiled sweetly at him.

"Zach?" He wondered how many memories she retained from before she ascended, obviously some if she was still breaking rules for her family.

"He can't be here when you are. He was a friend." Something about the said the word 'friend' spoke volumes about how much more he had been. "They let him ascend because of what he did, he was a selfless person, much like you Daniel."

"I've been researching. I'm not coming up with much, if want my help you're going to have to help a little more. I don't want anyone to die, but there is only so much I can do on my own." Daniel was more than a little impatient, he was a curious man and not being able to find the answers was making him edgy.

"I know, that's why I came. There is going to be something that happens in the next few days that will lead you to Midgar. Averting this disaster is as important to us as it is to anyone else. That's all I can tell you right now though. Just keep your ears open and you'll find the information you need to guide you to Midgar."

"At least I know that, thank you. About last night, what happened?"

"There is an…entity that taints the life force of the planet that I originally came from. I've been unsuccessful at fully cleansing the taint, though I've managed to reverse the spread of the disease it was causing. It* is powerful and last night it forced its way into my sanctuary, I had to fight him off and too do that I had force you out quickly. I'm sorry if it disturbed you."

"Well I can't say it was pleasant, but I've seen worse things. Is it dangerous?" Daniel enquired.

"Not to you, not yet anyway. It gains power everyday unfortunately; it could grown beyond my ability to control. The other Ancients are unable to help me fight it. I hope that in the coming days I will be able to destroy the taint completely." She looked weary as she said this. It was apparent that she had been in a constant battle with this entity for some time.

"Can I help you?"

"You will Daniel, you will, I promise. There is nothing you can do about it now, however. You are going to have to go now. Rest well Daniel." The world around him grayed out and he fell into a normal sleep until the next morning.

* * *

"Rise and Shine Danny-boy. Did you sleep on your desk all night? You're going to have desk face now you realize?" Jack had invaded his office at what seemed to be an ungodly hour and immediately began harassing him.

"Why are you so cheerful in the morning Jack?" Daniel grumbled.

"Ah, that would be because I've had my morning coffee. Here is yours." Jack handed him a mug of coffee.

"You are a god" Daniel said after his first gulp. He was preparing to make notes on last night's dream when Jack made a sniffing noise.

"Wow, I think you might have used a little too much air freshener last night. It smells like a flower shop in here." Daniel stopped working to take a deep breath of the air in his office. Jack was right. Very odd, the smell reminded him of the dream once more and he began writing at a fast pace on a pad of paper in front of him. "Okay Danny, I can tell when I'm not wanted. I'll come retrieve you for lunch even if I had to dig you out from under a pile of books to make you eat."

"Yes mother" Daniel responded. Jack glared at him, but Daniel didn't notice. His nose was already in a book.

* * *

*The entity is not Sephiroth, that is why I called it and 'it' not a 'he'. Jenova is still using Sephiroth's form even in the lifestream however. I'm fully of the opinion that Sephiroth was nothing more than an easily accessibly vessel for Jenova's purpose. He was mentally unstable and therefore easy to mentally break.

A/N: Does anyone have a suggestion for a possible pairing for good old Daniel. I know my OTP, but I don't want to include it. It has a habit of alienated certain groups of fans. I'm up for anything so long as you don't pair him with Carter. Pretty much any character from FF:VII is up for grabs, except for any pairings I already have set, I'm not good at writing poly-amorous relationships.


	4. Chapter Three: Chaos is his study buddy?

**A/N: It's a new Final Fantasy chapter, YAY! Vincent is one of the main characters here and he's one of my favorites in the game and a favorite to write as well. I hope I get him down accurately.**

**Reviews are still very much wanted! I love knowing what my readers think about my story and I might be inclined to use your advice or ideas in the story, wouldn't you like that?**

**I was singularly uninspired to write this chapter until I got a very nice review from the-ice-cold-alchemist. I'm dedicating this chapter to you, ice cold (which is your new nickname), and to my copy of Advent Children Complete which I just watched again.**

**Also I'm so sorry it took so long to update! I got busy with school and then I got sick. The next chapter should be easier to write.**

**_Italics = journal entries_**

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The drive out the Temple was always a long one, nothing could be done about that and there were any number of unfriendly monsters roaming the land between Midgar and the temple. Cloud could have called Cid of course and requested a ride out to the forgotten city, Cid would have been happy to do it, but Cloud would have felt lazy doing so. There was a bridge between the two land masses and Cloud kept up his fighting skills specifically for situations like this. There might not be any wars to fight or corrupt governments to overthrow, but there were still plenty of monsters left to fight on Gaia.

The white trees of the forest surrounded Cloud as he neared the temple. The ride had been long, but uneventful. Most of the more unfriendly creatures avoided roads these days, Shinra had more patrols on the roads to protect travelers. Rufus' father had never been interested in protecting civilians and the patrols were only one of the things that Rufus had done that showed he was a better leader than the former President.

Cloud pulled his bike to a stop in front of the lake that surrounded the temple and got off the bike. Vincent and Cid had built a bridge over the moat-like area a couple of years ago and Cloud crossed it, not bothering to mask the sound of his approach; Vincent had good hearing and no doubt he had heard Fenrir and already knew that Cloud would be in shortly.

"Vincent!" Cloud called as he entered the main room. "Where are you?" A crash sounded from further back in the complex, along with a muffled curse. Cloud laughed, Vincent was graceful most of the time, but if you managed to surprise him while he was up on a ladder digging through the archives he was likely to lose his balance.

"Back archive!" he heard Vincent call out and Cloud followed the voice to the stairs at the back of the Temple. They led down to Cetra archives which Vincent had discovered shortly before the incident with Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz; which really explained why he'd been spending so much time out here when the shit started to hit the fan before the kids were kidnapped. Cloud walked down a subterranean hallway when he got to the bottom of the staircase and finally entered a doorway at the far end. Vincent was pulling himself out of a stack of manuscripts that had fallen from whatever shelf he had been looking at most recently. The ladder was still leaning against the shelves, which was a minor miracle considering the level of mess on the floor.

"Hey Vincent, how are you?" Cloud had gotten better at engaging in small talk, but it still felt a bit strange to talk about nothing in particular with Vincent Valentine. Cloud would have offered to help clean up, but Vincent was very protective of the archives and touching any of the manuscripts could result in a glare that Cloud would rather not see directed his way ever again.

"I'm fine Cloud" came the terse reply. "You got here quicker than I would have expected. I assumed you would want to spend more time with Tifa, considering it was your anniversary yesterday."

"She all but shoved me out the door, said that whatever had you worried enough to call me today must be important. Apparently I was not needed tonight." Cloud could have sworn he saw Vincent's lips twitch up into a smile for a moment. It was still strange for Cloud to realize that Vincent did indeed have a sense of humor. Being with Cid, as unlikely a match as they were, had been good for both of them. "So what did you want to tell me about that couldn't be shared over the phone?"

"Ah, yes. I was being paranoid, but considering what I found…" Vincent trailed off and pulled a notebook off the top of one of the stacks on the table next to him. He opened it to a certain page and handed the book over to Cloud. "Read that section there, it's rather…enlightening when it comes to what level of knowledge the Cetra held about Jenova's true nature. I believe that I accurately translated the text from the Ancient's language." Vincent's connection with the beings that had been forced to become part of him due to Hojo's experiments had given him a lot of grief over the years, but the only good thing that had come of it was his ability to decipher the Ancient's language. Cloud took the book and glanced at Vincent, who simply stared back at him with dark eyes that showed no sign of good humor.

* * *

_ The day the meteor crashed into the northern continent we mounted an expedition to see what had been at the core of the meteor. It was larger than any that had ever fallen from space before. We did not know what to expect._

_ When the excavation began and we found the body of a woman at the core I knew immediately what we had found, though many of the younger generations were unaware. It was their curiosity and the elder's inability to control the situation that brought us to our downfall. I merely hope that someone may find this story useful someday and the knowledge that I am writing here before I Ascend, will help guide others away from committing the same misdeeds as the Cetra. _

_ The women, known now as Jenova _(The Calamity) _came to our planet to become a plague upon us. When the Ancients splintered because of the evil of one Ancient and his followers The Cetra fled to this planet, forsaking contact with our brothers and sisters. The Alterans and the Lanteans fled to new galaxies and planets. The Ori retained control of our home galaxy and branched out, taking over planet after planet. They were misguided and they enslaved whole races to their teachings, building armies to continue their conquest. The Ori were not satisfied with normal soldiers however and when they took the home world of a race who was genetically advanced, they took advantage of their abilities and tried to create a race of unstoppable soldiers through genetic experiments. Jenova was one of these Ashkari, they eventually rebelled and their planet was irrevocably destroyed. Her body was within a containment vessel trapped in a piece of her destroyed planet. _

_ The younger generations of our planet refused to listen to our warnings. They were tired of being tied to one planet, but we were not strong enough to leave our planet. If we left it would alert the Ori to our presence and cause the downfall of the Cetra. To prevent that they young ones began to experiment with the genetic material from Jenova. She had died in the decent, but the genetic code was intact and the advancements that the Ori had made were obvious to those of us with the training to recognize the forced changes in the structure. They began their experiments on the animals of our planet and slowly advanced to experiments on the Tau'ri that had come with us to this planet. The animals changed into monsters, that is the only word to describe them. We could not control them and many of them escaped into the wilds and began to breed. The experiments on the Tau'ri were a failure, the genetic material was incompatible with that of Jenova. The experiments continued with support from some of the most powerful militaristic factions of the Cetra. Many of the elders were pacifistic and had no interest in war, which meant we were ill prepared to stop the experiments on our fellow brothers and sisters. The changes were fast and violent. The Ashkari transfer memories and knowledge through genetic code, the stories and pain of the Ashkari were passed on to the Cetra who had been changed and they went insane and that was when the massacre began._

_ We were unable to stop the war, but many of the elders Ascended to escape. Many of the Hari, the original inhabitants of this planet, fled through the gate and our calls for aid from the Asgard went unheard. Some of the younger generations refuse to Ascend, they believe that they can find a way to destroy the creatures they made. They have already sealed Jenova into a block of solid Mako matter at the Northern Crater where she was recovered. We can only pray that they Tau'ri, who now outnumber us and are the dominant species, will not repeat our mistakes. We have destroyed most of our technology, in the hope that they will never advance as far as us technologically and perhaps they will never find Jenova. The planet has rejected us, we have brought a plague to Gaia. I am preparing to Ascend as soon as this account has been recorded. _

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Cloud looked up from the account, shocked at what he had read. "Vincent, do you think this is all true?"

"I cannot imagine why the account would not be accurate. I believe the Cetra's worst fears were realized."

"Who were the "Tau'ri" then? And the Hari?" There had not been a description of either race in the writing, but Vincent was sure to have at least a theory from all his other studying. Vincent rifled through another stack of manuscripts.

"I've haven't found many references to the Tau'ri, but since they are referenced as the new dominant race, I can only imagine that the author was referring to humans. As for the Hari…" Vincent handed him a new manuscript that looked to be full of sketches. The page it was open to was titled "Hari" and the picture bore a striking resemblance to Nanaki.

"I guess that explains why there are no more of Nanaki's people, the few that didn't flee the planet stayed and eventually died out, he really is the last of his kind…on this planet at least." Cloud didn't look forward to telling Nanaki that news, he had spent the better part of the last 5 years hunting for any clues on the whereabouts of the rest of his race.

"It would appear so Cloud. I would also venture a guess that many of the monsters on our planet are the result of these experiments, perhaps even Chaos was a result." Vincent's eyes were dark, but his face appeared neutral.

"So all the problems on our planet were caused by a bunch of overly curious alien residents of Gaia?" Cloud threw the manuscript down onto the table, frustrated.

"I believe some of the problems can only be attributed to the humans, but yes…it would appear that many of the more deadly issues, at their core, started by the Cetra. They did try to prevent the same thing from happening to us, but they underestimated Shinra's skill at finding anything that could be useful for them." Vincent seemed to collapse into himself and he leaned back against the ladder. He had been hoping to find information in these archives that could help humanity, instead he had found that everything that happened in the past years had been part of a cycle that had been occurring for thousands of years.

"On the bright side, all of humanity wasn't destroyed. I think we may have done a bit better than the Cetra in that case." Cloud smiled weakly at Vincent.

"There were most likely many fewer super soldiers being created in Shinra's Jenova project. We are advanced, but from some of the texts I've found, we are nowhere near the same level as the Cetra. They did a remarkable job of destroying their technology."

"That's probably a good thing, all things considered." Vincent nodded in agreement. The frown on his face was all the more noticeable since he was no longer wearing clothing that covered the bottom half of his face. Cid had demanded that he get a new wardrobe some years ago.

"What do you think we should do with this information?" Vincent asked him.

"I think we needed to bring everyone, Rufus and the Turks included, back here. We all have the right to know why these things happened to us. Other than that, there isn't much we can do Jenova has been destroyed completely for 5 years now."

"There were more of Jenova's race at some point." Vincent pointed out.

"That was thousands of years ago Vincent. I highly doubt they are going to cause any trouble now. I'll call everyone and see how fast they can be ready to go. Can you call Cid and see if he can pick them all up in Sierra? It'll be far easier to get them here." Vincent nodded and reached for his cell phone. Cloud paused midway through grabbing his own phone. "That journal, it said that the Hari fled through the "gate". Any idea what that meant?" Vincent grinned, the sudden change in facial expression shocked Cloud.

"That is one question I can answer." He motioned for Cloud to follow him. At the back of the archival room there was a hole in the floor which opened onto a steep staircase. Vincent grabbed an electric lantern and descended into the whole. Cloud followed hesitantly. At the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in a large man made cavern made of darker stone than the rest of the temple. Vincent turned up the lantern and shone it toward the back of the cavern. Cloud's jaw dropped; at the back of cavern stood a huge metallic circle. The inner track of the circle was covered in strange symbols and the outer track had 9 triangular metal pieces extended out over the inner track.

"So that's the gate?" Cloud said slowly.

"Yes, the Stargate" Vincent said solemnly.

* * *

**Next chapter: Back to Daniel, can he figure out what planet needs Sg-1's help and why? And can Sg-2 ever manage to get through a mission without trying to bring back some sort of pet?**


	5. Chapter Four: Can We Keep Him?

**Here's your Valentine's Day present my lovelies. Or in the case of people like me who suck at relationships, Happy Single Awareness Day! Your Valentine's gift to me will be reviews, right? It's better than chocolate to me and makes me feel better about being a loser. Kthxbai!**

**It's a new Stargate chapter, woohoo! For some reason these chapters are actually easier for me to write that the FFVII chapters. Daniel is getting closer to figuring things out and I'm thinking it'll be just a few more chapters before the two worlds really cross over into each other. **

**Once again it took me longer than anticipated to update. My computer was corrupted with a really bad virus and I had to install a new Operating System and salvage my files. It took a while…**

**This chapter is dedicated to my lovely online sister, who I only just met.****heavenreturned**** this one is for you, because I'll probably be bouncing ideas off of you at some point for this chapter, the same way we bounced ideas back and forth for your Torchwood story.**

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Daniel's day had not been going well. The constant research into the Cetra on top of SG-1's missions and research for other SG teams was exhausting him. Jack managed to drag him home a few nights a week, usually after they returned from a mission when Daniel was craving something other than commissary food.

Yesterday had been one of the few restful nights he'd had in a while. The dreams had stopped and allowed him sleep peacefully, but the abrupt end to the dreams caused him to be even more stressed than usual. He had made no headway in his search for information. On top of that he was looking over the pictures from a temple that SG-6 had discovered on their most recent mission. It was suspected that they temple was designed to worship the Asgard, as shown by the Nordic runes and Norse styled artwork on the walls. Daniel was trying to decide if the temple was important enough to excavate and what anthropological team should be sent through to do the survey and excavation of the site if General Hammond ok'd the mission. He was making notes when Jack walked into his office. Daniel sighed and put his pencil down, knowing that Jack's presence meant know work was going to get done.

"Hey Danny, you're hear bright and early again. I thought Frasier told you to rest up a while, you twisted your ankle pretty badly yesterday." Jack was mother henning again, but at least he had brought a cup of coffee, from Daniel's favorite coffee place no less, with him.

"It's a sprain, not a broken limb. I can handle desk work and Hammond wanted my assessment or the ruins from SG-6's last mission." Daniel snatched the offered coffee from Jack's grasp. Jack could probably tell that Daniel was a little tetchy this morning and he changed the subject from the regrettable and embarrassing injury. They hadn't even been running away from weapon fire when Daniel had sprained his ankle. He had been talking to Teal'c about a TV show they both watched and he hadn't noticed the uneven flagstone of the road until after he had tripped over it. Daniel had to lean against Teal'c the rest of the way back to the Stargate and endure a round of mocking from SG-3 who had been in the embarkation room when they got back.

"So, SG-2 got another boring mission yesterday. I was talking to Griff while you were in the infirmary. He's practically begging me to talk to Hammond for him. The team is complaining about how they always get sent to uninhabited planets and they apparently bored with that."

"I thought they were only given uninhabited planets because Sergeant Bell kept bringing back indigenous animals and trying to keep them as pets." Daniel was pretty certain that was a good reason for refusing to send them to planets with life signs. After Bell brought back that last green squirrel looking creature that had eaten a week's worth of Daniel's notes on a translation he had given Sergeant Bell the silent treatment for 2 weeks, even with the daily deliveries of his favorite coffee.

"That would be exactly the reason, but Bell swore he wouldn't do it again and they haven't had a decent assignment in 2 months. I'm beginning to feel a little sorry for them honestly."

"Fine, but I'm holding you personally responsible if anything happens to my work again. I can't give Bell the silent treatment again; it was like kicking a puppy." Daniel grimaced as he said this.

"I know what you mean. When I had to reprimand him, I ended up feeling worse about it than he did I think." Jack shook his head "He missed his calling in politics, I seriously think—"Jack's further comment was cut off by the blaring alarm that signal and unscheduled gate activation. "SG-2 is the only one out in the field right now." Daniel got up from his desk and followed Jack to the dialing room.

"It's SG-2 sir" one of the support staff was telling General Hammond as they entered the room. "They're sending a call."

"This is General Hammond. SG-2, what's your status?"

"This is Major Griff sir. We're not in any trouble, but this planet was a little more inhabited than the scans originally showed. There's a race of…people living here. They call themselves the Hari and they are requesting a favor of us in exchange for technology."

"What sort of favor, Major?" Jack cut in before the General had time to ask the same question, but Hammond hardly seemed to care.

"Well Colonel, they sort of want us to check in on their original planet. They were transplants to this world, because of a war on their planet. They left some behind and they want to know what happened. They don't want to give away their location in case the war is going on."

"Do you think the deal is worth taking Major?" Hammond asked.

"They have some of the most advanced technology I've seen outside of Ancient technology Sir. I think it would be a mistake to not here them out. There is a representative willing to come back to the SGC with us through the Stargate to discuss the issue."

"We'll open the Iris, bring the representative through with you" Hammond was definitely interesting in getting new tech for the scientists to look at. It would get the Joint Chiefs off his back for a while. If this favor was as simple as it seemed, which Hammond had his doubts about honestly, then this could be a great opportunity for the SGC. At the General's signal Walter Harriman input the code to open the iris and moments later Major Griff, Major Pierce, Lieutenant Sands, and Sergeant Bell came through the 'gate, followed by what looked a rather large, red wolf with a black ruff of fur on its head and neck which was marked with grey hairs and a long tail that was tipped with what appeared to be a live flame.

_'This is the representative?' _Jack thought. _'I'm never going to live down that conversation I just had with Daniel.'_

As if to prove his point Daniel leaned into Jack's personal space and whispered in an amused voice "I thought you said he swore he wasn't going to bring back anymore pets." Jack rolled his eyes.

* * *

General Hammond brought SG-2 into the debriefing room, leaving their guest in the embarkation room with a group of soldiers on guard. Jack called Carter and had her bring Teal'c down as well to hear what SG-2 had to say about their mission. When they were all assembled Major Griff began to tell what had happened on the planet.

SG-2 had arrived on the planet believing it to be uninhabited. The initial UAV flight had shown a world that was mostly desert and filled with Canyons. Most of the growth was at the bottom of these canyons, where most of the water could be found. The Stargate was places at the bottom of one of the larger canyons. Major Griff had been struck by the beauty of the canyon floor, which was significantly different than the overhead view they had seen of the land above the canyons.

They had started to gather soil samples to test for Naquada levels and Griff had sent Bell and Sands to collect samples of the local flora and samples of water for testing. There didn't seem to be any sign of intelligent life on the planet, but they had been warned that the intense heat outside of the canyons had made it difficult to scan for life signs, but the heat was high enough that they doubted any life forms would choose to live outside of the canyons. However, Major Griff was keeping a close eye out for trouble. It wouldn't be the first time something happened that the scientists had considered 'unlikely'.

About 2 hours after SG-2 had arrived there had been a small shower of rocks from the top of the canyon. When Griff looked up he found 3 of the red wolves looking down at them. The team had drawn their weapons, fearing that the UAV had missed some sort wild animal living on the planet. The wolves launched themselves from the top of the canyon wall and jumped down to the floor of the canyon, landing near the team. SG-2 had been ready to fall back to the gate, when another one of the creatures came up behind the first 3. This one was older, his black ruff and red fur were streaked through with grey. They didn't make a move toward the team, but the old one began speaking to them and made his request of the team after finding out who they were and how they had got to the planet.

"So that's all that occurred?" The General asked.

"Yes sir, we thought we would let Henani, that's the name of the elder who came with us, tell his story. I think we would just get the whole thing confused. It was…rather complex." The Major responded.

"Alright, I think we should talk to this Henani" the General picked up the phone and told the guards that were with the representative to bring him into the debriefing room. When he came through the door they realized how large he was. He stood almost as tall as O'Neill's waist and he was big and muscled with scars on his hide that showed that he had no always been an elder and he had gotten his position by living a long and dangerous life.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me, General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill. Your men speak quite highly of you, my people do not take such praise lightly, I hope you live up to their praise." General Hammond and Jack both looked at SG-2 and Jack raised an eyebrow. The team responded by looking anywhere other than at their commanding officers. Jack gave a snorted laugh and the General chuckled.

"I hope we live up to the stories they've been telling as well…uh" the General knew his name, but didn't want to offend him with assuming too much familiarity. Luckily Henani seemed to guess the reason for his pause.

"Call me Henani, it is my name and my people have little use for overly ostentatious titles."

"It is good to meet a representative from another race, especially one that has made as generous an offer as you have." The General wanted to get to the point of the meeting, but his familiarity with dealing with political situations had taught him to tread carefully when dealing with negotiations.

"Unlike some of the other races that my people have dealt with over the years, the Hari do not feel the need to hoard our knowledge when it could be of some use to another race." Henani was a very serious sounding leader, but perhaps that was an affected personality trait for dealing with negotiations just as Hammonds patience and politeness level was affected to deal with touchy situations.

"What exactly did you want us to do in return?" That was Jack of course, ever blunt and straight to the point.

"You would be Colonel O'Neill correct?" Henani asked.

"Yup, that's me. O'Neill with two Ls. I don't mean to be blunt, but in my experience when someone is offering us such a good deal there is usually something fishy about what they want in return. You guys might not be like that, but I gotta look out for my team mates."

"SG-2 was correct, you are an honorable man Colonel O'Neill. I will tell you what we require of you, but first I must tell you the story of why we fled our planet so many years ago. You must understand the dangers that you may be walking into if you undertake this task."

"Full disclosure, that's great. We don't get that very often with our allies." Jack said.

"Then they are foolish, how can they expect you to trust them if they hide the truth from you?" Henani looked puzzled, which was an amusing expression on the wolf. Confusion manifests with a tilted head in all dog like races apparently.

"That's what I'd like to know, but they never seem to have an answer for that." Jack said with a shrug.

"Colonel" the General said at the same time Daniel came out with an exasperated "Jack!"

"Sorry" Jack grinned apologetically and leaned back in his chair. "Alright, story time then." Henani nodded and moved to sit on his hind legs and settled himself into what Daniel assumed was a formalized position for telling stories.

Henani's story

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Long ago my people, the Hari, lived on a planet called Gaia. It flourished and the world spoke to us. The lifestream of the planet protected us and we coexisted peacefully with the planet. Then they came, another race and a few of their followers that were seeking protection from a violent part of their own race. We welcomed them to Gaia and for years we all coexisted peacefully. They communed with Gaia, though their followers couldn't sense the lifestream like we could. We couldn't see that there would ever be a problem between our peoples. Perhaps we were foolish, but in the end they were too ambitious and that led to their downfall and our escape from the planet through the Stargate.

A meteor fell from the sky long after they had come to live on our planet. They were curious and they traveled to the north to find what had fallen from the sky. They came back with fragments of rock and soil to test and with a containment shell that had been in the center of the comet. Inside the shell was Jenova, the great calamity. She was of another race, a highly advanced and strong race. They used her genetics to experiment; first on animals that transformed into monsters, then on their followers, then finally on themselves. These final experiments rebelled and went insane from the genetic altering that had been done. They started a war they the Hari knew we could not stop and so we fled from our world and hoped that the abominations would not be able to follow us.

**(A/N: This story could be longer, but you already heard the long version in the last chapter and I didn't want to repeat myself.)**

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"Until today" Henani said as he finished the remarkably concise tale of his worlds fall "we have had no other visitors through the Stargate and when we learned that you were explorers we hoped that we could convince you to find what became of Gaia. We left behind some of our own kind when we fled, there were some who believed that leaving the Cetra to their fate was…cowardly and chose to stay to help. That is all we ask, we must know the fate of our planet and we dare not use our own gate. It is cowardly of us, but we don't wish to draw attention to a gate that has had so little use for thousands of years." Daniel suddenly interjected himself into the flow of Henani's monologue in a panicked sort of way.

"Hang on. What did you say the name of this other race was?" Henani looked at him curiously.

"They were called the Cetra, sometimes they referred to themselves as Ancients. They were the ones who brought the Stargate to Gaia in the first place, though I do not recall them using it any time before they used it for us to leave the planet."

"General Hammond" Daniel was practically bouncing in his chair with barely concealed excitement. Jack placed a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down. "The Cetra, that's the name of the race that the woman in my dreams has been talking about and they were Ancients. If the world survived the war there could be countless artifacts and manuscripts, if the Cetra survived and didn't Ascend we might even make new allies."

"New allies who made some extremely foolish and short sighted decisions Dr. Jackson." General Hammond said, obviously not approving of the genetic experimentation that the Cetra had been involved in.

"I understand that General, but this could be a huge advance for the program."

"I don't like how these people are connected to the dreams you've been having Dr. Jackson." The General though of Daniel as a son and he didn't like getting him involved in dangerous situations more than necessary.

"Neither do I Danny, you attract danger and kidnapping attempts like sugar attracts bees." Jack had to add his two-sense on the subject and apparently Daniel didn't appreciate the sentiment if the pained gasp that came from Jack after the sound of a shoe connecting with a shin was indicative of Daniel's mood.

"With all due respect General, I don't think we can afford to not help the Hari and the dreams I've been having are obviously being caused by a connections I made while I was Ascended, I don't get the feeling that the women in the dreams has any ill-will toward me." Henani spoke up suddenly.

"You were Ascended? That is a great honor for one that is not an Ancient, there is only one Hari in history who was given that honor." He seemed to look at Daniel with new respect, refusing to meet Daniel's eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it was, but I wasn't too good at it. They kind of kicked me out for interfering in the matters of humanity too often." Daniel gave a nervous laugh at the memory of that. General Hammond seemed to be lost in thought for a moment and then came back to himself.

"Henani, I believe we can work something out. If you give us the address for Gaia we will send an unmanned vehicle through and see if it appears dangerous. If it's safe we will consider sending in a couple of teams to see if there are survivors living on the planet, of your race or the Cetra. You can remain here while we do the work, or we can return you to your planet."

"I would prefer to remain here, I would like to learn more about your people and talk to Dr. Jackson more if I may. I think he would be able to tell me much about your race."

"That's Danny for ya'. He's a walking repository of knowledge about humans and aliens alike." Jack said, he stood from his chair, favoring his left leg slightly. "He also kicks really hard. Jeeze Danny, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything."

"Shut up Jack" Daniel said, with just enough humor in his voice to let Jack know he'd been forgiven already.

"Colonel, I'd like to talk to you in my office for a minute."

"Sure General, go on ahead. It may take a second to start walking again." General Hammond smiled slightly and headed into his office with Jack following shortly behind.

"Well Henani, how would you like a tour of Stargate Command?" Daniel asked "The other ¾ of SG-1 are willing I think." Carter seemed eager to speak to Henani about his people's technology and Teal'c merely nodded his agreement.

"I would be honored Dr. Jackson. Where should be go first?" Daniel started to speak, but interrupted by the growling of his stomach. He blushed at the looks he got from Carter and Teal'c, the whole team got on his case when he didn't eat.

"Uh, how about the Commissary; I haven't eaten yet today."

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**One last thing to mention: I love how many of you have put this story on your favorites and alerts lists. However, I kinda wish I could get some more reviews. I, quite frankly, love reading what you think about my stories. So here's the deal. For every review you leave (signed in, not anonymous) I will read and leave one review of one of your stories. Seems like a good deal right?**


	6. Chapter Five: Calling the Calvary

**A/N: I get lazy on occasion and forget to prioritize my writing over other things, like…eating and sleeping. Moreover, mid-terms appeared and I had to stop them from ripping my throat out…**

**So so so sorry it took so long to get another chapter. **

**FYI, reviews give me inspiration to write!**

**Also, I've had reviews and PMs on both sides of the argument to keep or get rid of the Cid/Vincent pairing. I've decided to keep it, because it's a personal favorite and this is my story. It won't be graphic and I hope my rationalization of why they are together (in this chapter) will be accepted by my readers for this 'verse.**

**Supernatural fandom has taken my soul recently and I like my Dean angst, so I apologize in advance if that sort of sneaks into my writing here.**

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**Still hoping for more reviews, by the way. **

**Kthxbai**

All things considered, Vincent thought as he followed Cloud out of the underground cavern, today's revelations hadn't been the most scarring ones that he had ever received; mentally or physically. In fact, considering the things he had seen, the things he had done or had done to him during his time working for Shinra, today had been a walk in the park. They came out of the cavern into the archive and Cloud retrieved his PHS from his pocket and opened it.

"No signal, I'm going to go back to the surface and call the others. Get a call in to Cid to get him to bring Sierra around to pick up the others. He generally does what you tell him without being a bastard, unlike when I ask him for favor." Cloud grinned at Vincent and left the Archives to walk up the stairs to the main room of the Temple. Vincent pulled out his own phone and followed Cloud out of the subterranean rooms that made signal impossible to get on their PHS units. ** (A/N: There has been some disagreement about the new airships name [Sierra vs. Shera] but Cid in my version of Advent Children Complete in English seems to say Sierra.)**

Vincent pulled out his phone as soon as he hit the surface and began dialing the number that he'd memorized over the years since he'd gotten a phone. Marlene had once asked him why he didn't keep numbers stored in his phone. He'd told her that he didn't trust technology to cooperate when you needed it the most, which was true, but it had been better than the full answer. That he was still a paranoid bastard and though Shinra was no longer the monster it had once been, Vincent was still cautious about leaving information anywhere that would endanger his friends and family.

The phone rang one, two, three, four times and finally on the fifth ring a gruff, smoke roughened voice answered the phone.

"Highwind delivery service, what can I do for ya'?"

"It's me, Cid." Vincent sighed, Cid had caller I.D., he knew who was calling. He just enjoyed being an ass whenever possible.

"Hey, Vince, wasn't expecting a call from you today. Whatcha need?" Cid sounded extraordinarily pleased to hear from him and Vincent quickly calculated that it had indeed been a fairly long time since he'd been home. His discovery of the Stargate had distracted him somewhat. It hardly mattered; they would be seeing each other shortly.

"I've told you what will happen if you continue calling me that."

"Yeah, you have, but strangely my heads still on my shoulders so I'm not too worried. So what is it ya' need from me, Vince?"

"Could I not be calling because I miss you?" Vincent asked curiously.

"Not when you're buried under research. When that happens it'll be the first sign that Meteor is about to take another swing by." Cid didn't sound upset by that, but Vincent was struck by the thought that after all of this had been sorted out that he should spend some time back in Rocket Town with Cid.

"Cloud's out here, I had to talk to him about some texts I found. He's in agreement that we should all meet here so we will all be apprised of the situation."

"Sounds serious, so you'll be needing me to make the rounds and bring everyone out to the Temple?"

"Cloud is making calls to everyone, I'm sure Rufus and whoever he brings with him will have their own transport, but I'm sure everyone else could use a ride. I'm sure they'll be calling to let you know where to pick them up." Vincent was thankful once again that he had end up with someone as easy going as Cid, he was find with dropping his plans and work to play taxi for Avalanche when necessary.

"Sure they will, probably won't say thanks neither, ungrateful sonsabitches" he groused. "I don't where I'll be picking them up, but we'll probably be there by tomorrow morning, before lunch time for sure."

"Then you had best bring food as well. I don't exactly have a well-stocked kitchen at my disposal."

"Sure, I can do that. I don't want to be stuck out there with a hungry Yuffie, I might lose a limb. I'll see you and the chocobo tomorrow."

"Thank you, Cid." Cid didn't even bother saying goodbye, simply hanging up after grousing good naturedly that at least someone appreciated him. Vincent smiled, an occurrence that had happened more and more frequently since he and Cid had fallen into a completely unexpected relationship.

Vincent was still inside the Temple when he made his call, while Cloud had chosen to exit the building. He had several more calls to make than Vincent had so Vincent made himself comfortable on the edge of a platform in the main room. 15 minutes or so passed before Cloud came back into the room, this time pushing his bike along with him.

"Leaving it outside seemed like a poor choice" he said in answer to Vincent's questioning look.

"Yes, because there are so many motorcycle stealing monsters in the forest." Cloud raised a blond eyebrow at the sarcastic tone in Vincent's voice, but didn't comment.

"What did Cid say?"

"He said he'd pick everyone up and probably be here before lunch tomorrow and he's bringing food." As an afterthought he tacked on "He also feels that I'm the only who appreciates him and the rest of you are 'ungrateful sonsabitches'" he quoted.

"Hearing you talk like Cid is one thing I will never get over. You two are the oddest couple I've ever met." Cloud chuckled.

"More odd than Rude and Reno?"

"Oh please, as if we all didn't see that coming from miles away. They make sense, you and Cid though…" Cloud didn't finish the statement, merely shook his head in a bewildered fashion. "It's getting pretty late, do you have a place where I could bed down for the night?"

"The first archive has been sorted and cleared, that's where I've been sleeping. Just put your bedroll in there." Vincent had an uncharacteristically peaceful look on his face.

"Alright then, I'm going to get some shut-eye. Do we need to keep watch here?"

"No, monsters won't enter the Temple, in fact they won't even enter the clearing around it. Something is holding them back."

"Then you should get some sleep too, long day tomorrow trying to explain everything to everyone." Cloud was already heading towards the stairs, carrying a bedroll with him.

"I'll be down later, I do not require as much sleep as you do." Vincent stood from his seat on the platform and walked toward the Temple door. "I am going outside for a while."

"Alright, suit yourself." Cloud was used to people ignoring his suggestions; marriage did that to a guy. He tramped down the stairs to the archive that Vincent had mentioned and bedded down for the night, the too thin bedroll on the rock floor reminded him that he was getting a bit too old for this sort of thing.

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Evening had set and the moon shone through the petrified trees, bathing the clearing around the Temple with pale, ghostly light. Vincent leaned back against the stone entrance to the Temple and soaked in the cool night air. For most the evening would have been chilly enough to demand the wearing of a jacket or sweater, but Vincent had not been affected by heat or cold since his body had been changed by Hojo.

In his jeans, turtleneck and boots (his guns remained indoors, he had meant it when he said that monsters would not enter the clearing) he slouched against the wall until he was sitting on the ground, back against the wall.** (A/N: Yes, his clothes have changed. It's been 5 years since FFVII:AC and he's no longer in the middle of a war).** He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, reflecting that this was one of several habits he had picked up from Cid over the years; his whole demeanor had changed since he had become friends and, later, lovers with the surly pilot.

Cloud was right of course, no one had seen that particular plot twist coming. Oh, he and Cid had been friends, quietly, during the Meteor incident and for years afterward. During those times Cid had been the only one that paid attention to him without feeling the need to constantly try to cheer him up. Cid understood the necessity of getting shit-faced drunk to forget the past, or just having a quiet drink with a friend to remember the past; Cid had also understood Vincent's need to hide from Yuffie every time she decided to enter one of her "Cheer up Vinnie!" phases. The number of times that Cid had found Vincent cowering in Cid's room to hide from her overly cheerful tones could not be counted. Cid would just laugh, lock the door and pull out his secret stash of liquor while shaking his head.

"Vince, I can't blame you for hiding. Yuffie is terrifying sometimes. I think the only thing we _really_ need to do to defeat Sephiroth is lock him in a room with her for a few days, he'd beat his head in and save us the trouble." Cid had said once. Vincent hadn't responded, just pulled up a chair to Cid's crowded desk and poured the drinks.

No, Cid had never consciously tried to cheer Vincent up and along with that, he'd never tried to change him. Somehow, though, that had been exactly what he'd needed and he had found himself slowly becoming _friends_ with Cid Highwind. It had been an interesting evening when he finally realized it and being so shocked (and quite possibly drunk) he'd blurted out into the quiet of Cid's room.

"So this is what having a friend is like" it had not been a question, merely a statement of fact, but Cid had responded anyway.

"Sure is, Vince, but c'mon you musta had friends before. When you were a Turk, you must have hung around with the other Turks." Vincent had thought back to those days of trying to catch glimpse of Lucrecia and the constant paranoia that had come with working with the Turks, who would have turned on their own mother in a second if they suspected them of treason.

"No, we were not exactly the friendly type."

"Those two Turks, Reno and Rude I think, they seem pretty friendly."

"I believe they are what you would call the exception that proves the rule."

"Yeah, well…I think they might be more than friends, if you know what I mean?"

"Yes, Cid, I know what you mean." And that had been the end of that conversation. The fact that they were friends was simply an unspoken thing that needed no quantifying. It was friendship at it's purest in Vincent's mind, they would happily die for each other, but they didn't expect any huge deal to made out of their friendship.

About 6 months after the incident with Kadaj, Vincent had been at the temple carefully sorting and cataloging the contents of the first archive room, when he heard the unmistakable sound of Sierra's motors. He'd come out of the Temple to find Cid descending from the ship by means of a rope ladder, about 10 feet from the ground Cid let go and landed gracefully on the ground. He had turned to see Vincent standing just inside the Temple door and grinned irreverently at him.

"Didn't even make me come in after ya', good. Got anything in there you'll need in the near future." Vincent had blinked at Cid, confused as to what was going on. "Oh c'mon, you have a phone don't you? Tifa said she was going to call and let you know."

"Let me know what?" Vincent said in an un-amused tone. Cid was his friend, but he didn't particularly like his work being interrupted.

"She's having some party up at 7th Heaven. Everyone's gonna be there, even Rufus and the Turks. Rufus's got some big unveiling of some plan he has for rebuilding the economy now that the Stigma's been cured."

"I'm in the middle of something." Vincent said, futilely hoping that Cid would leave. Avalanche and even Rufus and the Turks, to some extent, were his friends, but he wasn't fond of parties.

"Yeah, sorting old dusty books, I'm pretty sure that will hold for a couple of weeks." Vincent raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"The party is going to be several weeks long?"

"Nah, but I was sorta hoping that you'd come back to Rocket Town with me for a while after the parties over and done with. I'm going crazy there and you've been out here by yourself for way to long, Vince." Cid sounded so hopeful and the idea did have some merit Vincent thought. A few weeks away from the books sounded appealing even, when accompanied by an invitation to spend the time with his friend.

"Allow me to gather a few things and I'll be ready to go soon." Vincent turned, his red cloak swirling around him. Cid was grinning at him from where he was holding onto the rope ladder.

"Oh and Vince?" he called after him. Vincent turned and looked at him expectantly. "We're going shopping when we get to Midgar, you really need some new clothes."

And that was how it had started.

The party had been nice, Rufus had laid out plans afterward for rebuilding the government the help of Reeve. Avalanche had been relieved to hear of Reeve's involvement, believing that Reeve would balance out any crazy ideas that Rufus had. Cid had left with Vincent and gone back to Rocket Town. 2 weeks at turned into 2 months and when Vincent left it was with a promise extracted from him to visit more often. Their relationships had continued to evolve until, roughly a year after The Reunion, Marlene had caught them kissing in the alley behind 7th Heaven and proceeded to run back inside to tell the news that her two honorary uncles were "in lu-uve". It had been the first (and Ancients willing, the last) time he'd ever had cause to blush in front of all the people he respected the most. It had been a well-excepted change; same-sex relationships were not uncommon in their culture after all. Barret had slapped Cid on the back and congratulated them, Tifa, Elena and Yuffie had giggled at them along with Marlene for the rest of the night, Cloud had given them a quiet congratulations along with Rufus and the rest of the Turks and that had been that. It didn't stop their friends from wondering how exactly they had ended up together. Vincent didn't have an answer for them, it had just happened and he was glad it had.

Vincent crushed his cigarette beneath his boot and breathed in a lungful of cool air before heading back inside the Temple. Cloud was right after all, tomorrow was going to be a long day. Vincent had a feeling that things were about to get interesting.

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**A/N: Okay first things first.**

** 1: I don't dislike Yuffie, in fact I rather like her character and I think Vincent likes her as a friend as well. However, I think that during the game his personality was the polar opposite of hers and they would have clashed. **

** 2: I hope I explained my rationalization of Cid and Vincent's relationship dynamic enough.**

** 3: I totally planned for this chapter to include the telling of Gaia's history to the Turks and Avalanche, but it got long and I haven't updated in so long that I've moving that to the next FFVII chapter. **

** 4: There is absolutely no corroborating evidence that same-sex couples are more or less excepted in the FFVII world. However, they come from a completely different social and cultural structure and I choose to think that if the humans on Gaia came from Earth in a pre-Christianized age there would be more acceptance of gay relationships. This is just my opinion though and you may disagree, however I will continue using this premise.**

**NEXT CHAPTER: SG-1 and the rest of the SGC get to see what lies beyond the Stargate on the world of the Hari. Will it be what they expect?**


	7. Chapter Six: Tau'ri, Hari and

**A/N: I just wanted to say thanks for the lovely reviews I've received recently. I've responded to all of them in Private Messages, but thanks to all my reviewers once more.**

**Also, I told several reviewers this chapter would be out last Saturday and I apologize for that. I have bipolar disorder, for which I do not take medication and Saturday morning I was struck by a downward swing that left me sobbing and useful for most of the next two days and then school started up again and I had no time. **

**A new section of my Author's notes! Response to Anonymous reviews: because I love to respond to your thoughts if you take the time to leave them.**

**Kaoslord: I can swear that this story won't be graphic in slashy way. I'm not a prude, but I know that I'm no good at writing sex scenes. There might be a few kisses, but neither slash nor het couples will be graphic. I'm going to attempt some fight scenes in a few chapters, but the story is moving pretty slowly.**

**On to the fic!**

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"What is it you do here at Stargate program, Daniel Jackson?" Henani sat at the side at of a commissary table, with his fiery tale curled around his legs. Daniel couldn't help but wonder how that fire was able to continue burning without hurting the Elder Hari or catching other objects on fire. Henani had disregarded their offer to sit in a chair and Daniel had to admit that the large wolf would have looked a little silly trying to sit on one of the metal and plastic chairs.

"Um…me personally, or the program in general?" There was a wide range of things done by the program and Daniel, despite being head of the archeological department…or perhaps because of, was not well-versed in the departments outside his own and of course his field work with SG-1.

"Information on both would be appreciated."

"Well I can tell you about my department and the program in general, but I'm not the expert on everything we do." Daniel looked over at Sam and Teal'c who were seated on the other side of the table making sure he ate a full meal, acting as mother hens in the absence of Jack.

"Well if Daniel will do the peaceful explorer talk I can tell you about the science side of things." Sam said to Henani.

"I would be most grateful for that, we could perhaps find what sort of technology and medicine would be most beneficial for your world." Carter looked like someone had just declared that Christmas was now a monthly holiday.

"O'Neill would be the best person to ask about the military aspects of Stargate Command, but I could be of service explaining some of it." Teal'c said, "but Daniel Jackson should begin so that you will understand the history." Henani nodded and turned to Daniel who pushed his empty plate away from him and settled back into his chair in what Sam and Jack had dubbed his "sit down and shut up while I'm telling you something important" pose.

"Okay, in 1928, about 70 years ago by our calendar, Archeologist un-earthed a cover stone and a metal ring in Giza, Egypt…" The story began.

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**A/N: I'm working under the premise that my readers already know this story, because I honestly don't want to have to re-write it here. If you are not familiar with the background of the SGC by now and don't know what it does (why are you reading this fic?) then I would suggest you read the plot section of the Stargate (film) article on Wikipedia**

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Jack limped his way into Hammond's office, his leg still smarting where Daniel had kicked him during the briefing. Jack wasn't faking the pain either, Daniel had gotten much stronger over the years, the geek in glasses who had crack the code to the Stargate was long gone now.

"What did you want to see me about, General?"

"Sit down Jack, you're making my leg hurt just standing there."

"Yes sir" Jack sat down, glad to take the pressure off his leg.

"I want your honest opinion, what's your assessment of this mission?"

"Seems like it's too good to be true, they're offering us all this technology in exchange for way to little." Jack had always been a paranoid bastard, the years of being screwed over by their alien allies had only exacerbated the problem.

"Agreed and I don't like the timing of it, Dr. Jackson has been having these dreams and suddenly we run across a race of aliens who know the key to understanding them? It all seems a little…set up." No one could accuse General Hammond of being unintelligent or reckless.

"I agree, but can we really afford to not see this through? We're being offered an awful lot here and if we don't at least try to follow through on what they want we could lose a powerful ally." Jack sighed "It's not like we have a whole lot of those right now, Sir." General Hammond sighed in response, knowing Jack was right, but still worried about the possible consequences of this mission.

"Then we send a camera through and see what's on the other side. I don't like it, but you're right Colonel, we need all the allies we can get."

"Besides, Danny might just dial out and dive through the 'gate if we decided to not visit. He's been driving himself crazy with research on these dreams." Hammond laughed.

"He very well might. We'll be careful, but somehow I think things are going to get out of control, that's the way things seem to happen around here."

"Life would be less interesting if things didn't go FUBAR every now and then, General." Hammond snorted in amusement.

"True, go find your team, Colonel." Jack stood, saluted and limped out of the office.

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Jack found them sitting in Carter's lab talking about ZPMs and found that they had just come from the infirmary where Frasier had given Henani a rundown on various problems that human medical research was having in finding cures for diseases.

"Don't bore our ally completely this soon guys, if he makes a run for his planet now it'll kind of suck."

"We're not boring him" Carter said and then looking for reassurance she turned to Henani. "We aren't, are we?"

"Certainly not Major Carter." Henani said, in a polite tone that seemed to be common to alien races visiting Earth.

"Yeah sure, he's just being polite."

"Just because I bore you, sir, does not mean everyone else is bored by me." Carter huffed in annoyance and turned back to fiddling with some alien doo-dad on her desk.

"What did Hammond want to talk to you about, Jack?" Daniel said, not bothering to diffuse the situation between Jack and Sam, Carter would forget about it soon enough.

"Just some stuff about the mission. Where going to send a camera through in about an hour to see what we can see." He turned to Henani "Anything about where the Stargate is placed that we should know." Henani contemplated this.

"The texts we have say that the Stargate was placed in the front room of the Temple, but it also said that the Cetra planned to seal it in a cavern beneath the temple after the Hari left through it. They didn't want to risk the factions of their own kind coming through it and gaining access to the technologies and resources of the planet."

"Great, so it may be sealed under hundreds of meters of rock. Good to know." Jack said in an exasperated tone. "If the cave is sealed to tightly we may not be able to send a team through."

"Understandable, Colonel, all we ask is that you try." Henani said.

"Good to know. Hey," he said suddenly "has anyone showed him any of the really cool stuff yet?"

"If you're talking about the armory, then no," Daniel said with amusement "we thought you might want the pleasure of showing off all the fire power."

"Of course!" Jack responded with enthusiasm. He had an ulterior motive of watching for recognition of Go'auld tech of course, but showing off things that made other things explode was one of the joys in life.

* * *

An hour later the whole group, along with General Hammond and the command room support staff, watched a MALP unit go through the event horizon, heading for native home of the Hari.

"The MALP should be appearing on the other side in, 3, 2, 1. The MALP is on the ground."

The camera flickered slowly to life and then the lights on the MALP lit up and the camera showed a dark, stone subterranean room where the Stargate was situated. The remote control of the MALP moved it through the room, looking for an entrance to the cavern that could be used by a team to leave the vault. The DHD was seen soon enough, sitting just outside the range of the Event Horizons creation point.

Finally, just as Daniel and Henani had about giving up hope of SG-1 being sent through, the MALP found an a set of rough stone stairs that led to an opening in the ceiling of the cavern. Bright light shone down through the opening, though no specific things could be seen in the room outside the cavern.

"Colonel, what do you think?" General Hammond asked his 2IC.

"Well, sir, it's not a war zone. No sign of Go'auld influence, the DHD is properly in place for us to get home. I can't see a reason why we should send SG-1 through."

"Alright, SG-1 you have a go. The mission is set for 1700 hours." It was 1500 hours then, giving the team 2 hours to prepare for the mission. The Stargate was shut down and SG-1 left the room to get ready.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know…it was shorter than normal. But I had to get this one out there, because I felt bad for the delay. Good news is that I have the next chapter clearly mapped out in my head, which should save time even though I'm working on Script Frenzy at the same time. Oh! And the two worlds will be meeting next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 7: Convergence

**A/N: There is no excuse for my terrible updating habits, but I'll try to give you an accounting of the why behind the fact that I haven't update in ages. **

**First of all, I had to move into an apartment with my family and that took a LOT of time and energy. Also I was completing my finals for this semester and then helping set up a Supernatural fansite team-free-will (dot) com if you'd like to see. Then after that was completed I spent several weeks looking for work and finally managed to land a pretty sweet job which should give me extra time for writing while I'm at work.**

**Of course if the story hasn't been completed by the end of August (God, I really hope I manage to finish it by then) you'll have to put up with silence from me again unless I manage to write some buffer chapters. I'm moving again at the end of August, this move is going to take me halfway across the country and I'll have to find ANOTHER job…**

**Here's hoping I still have some actual readers. Once again, I am so terribly sorry that I have taken this long to update.**

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Not long before noon the sound of chopper blades cut the quiet of the forest and a black chopper with the Shinra logo landed in the clearing next to the temple. Reno and Rude jumped out first and pulled out a ramp for Rufus to roll himself down out of the body of the chopper. Reeve Tuesti followed him, jumping out onto the ground with grace that he had always lacked as Cait Sith.

The motorized wheelchair that Rufus had spent copious amounts of money and man hours on creating rolled up to a smooth stop in front of Vincent and Cloud who stood on the edge of the bridge that connected the Temple to the main land.

"Cloud, it's good to see you, it's been quite some time." Reeve said, grabbing Cloud's hand and shaking it before moving on to Vincent who received a similar greeting. Rufus waited for Rude and Reno to catch up to him. The chopper was lifting off again and Cloud watched it go with a curious look.

"I'll call them back when we are ready to leave. This clearing isn't big enough for a chopper and an air ship Cloud" Rufus said in response to the look. Before anything else could be said between the two, the energy storm that was named Reno got in the way.

"Hey Cloud, how're doing? I hope Tifa didn't think we left the place in a mess the other night! We tried to clean up a bit, but we had to leave right after we closed up."

"I think you're fine, she didn't complain to me about anything." Cloud assured Reno, who looked like he was no longer scared for his life, which was an apt description of how one should feel if they messed up Tifa's bar.

"And if she hasn't complained to you then everything is fine." Rude said with finality "When you are sleeping with someone you get to hear them whenever they want to bitch." Reno glared over at Rude who was smirking back under his sunglasses.

"Yeah, like I don't hear it from you too. All I get is bitch bitch bitch…" Reno grumbled. His disgruntled statement made everyone in the grin, even Rufus, who usually seemed to be practicing for an award for "most broody facial expression". The last few years had been good for all of them and old wounds between the groups had been mended, though Cloud still didn't trust Rufus completely. The new president of Shinra always had something up his sleeve.

The conversations of the small group were cut short by the humming of Sierra's engines and soon a shadow was cast over the clearing by the hull of the airship. A few moments of careful maneuvering set the airship down in the clearing* and the doors into the cargo bay opened to admit the group into the ship. Vincent picked up a stack of books and Cloud bent to pick up another stack of papers for Vincent to use in his 'show and tell' about the history of Gaia.

Cid met them at the top of the ramp and after smiling in Cloud and Vincent's direction and slapping Reeve on the back and glaring at Rufus, he still had more trust issues with him than Cloud did, he grabbed Vincent by the arm and dragged him with him, leading the procession.

"Everyone is in the galley, except for Nanaki, Yuffie wasn't sure where he disappeared to. We'll just have to fill him in later, let's go, I want lunch and Tifa wouldn't let us eat until we picked y'all up."

"The only person in the world brave enough to come between Cid and food" Vincent said with a deep chuckle.

"What? You wouldn't be able to stop him?" Reno asked.

"I could, but I won't if I want to keep sleeping in bed and not on the couch." Cid laughed at that. Despite the number of years they had been together it still shocked their friends that Vincent had become so _human _because of his interactions with Cid. Seven years ago none of them would have believed that Vincent even knew _how _to laugh. The only person who was never surprised was Tseng, who was not with them at the moment, he had remembered Vincent's wicked sense of humor when he was a Turk and he had been glad to see it come back little by little over the years. As corny as it would sound to say it aloud, love really did heal almost anything.

The door to the galley swung open and the large group inside greeted them loudly as they all sat down to eat before discussing the problem at hand.

* * *

SG-1, General Hammond, Henani and the various members of support staff made for a rather packed room as they watched the MALP being prepared for their trip on the opposite side of the glass. Daniel had to admit to being amused at watching how people stumbled to get out of the way of Henani's twitching tail. Sam had taken a look at it in her lab, trying to understand how the flame could exist without burning anyone or anything it touched. She had yet to find a satisfactory explanation.

Henani was standing with his wolf-like face pressed close to the glass, watching with curiosity at the prep that the scientists and military men were going through to make the MALP ready for 'gate travel.

"What do you hope to see on the other side of the gate?" Teal'c asked him.

"I do not honestly know. It has been years since we fled and left dozens of our own kinds behind. I have no way to know if they survived, but…I hope to find some of their descendants there or at least knowledge that we did not leave the people of Gaia to their doom when we fled. I do not think the spirit of my ancestors could handle the knowledge that their cowardice caused the death of a planet."

"You have no way of knowing whether you're people would have been strong enough to repel the attackers, you're race could very well have been destroyed." Teal'c said, whether this was in comfort or a simple statement of fact was hard to tell.

"Some things are worth dying for, sometimes living isn't worth it if you have to live with the knowledge that a mistake that you made had such a great cost." Henani looked very tired at that moment and Teal'c did not respond, he just nodded and stood next to Henani at the window.

* * *

"Are you saying that Jenova wasn't the only one of her kind?" Reeve asked with trepidation.

"That is exactly what I'm saying. The Ancients were well aware of what she was and where she came from. The Ori, an offshoot of The Ancients, were responsible for the genetic experiments that created Jenova and the rest of her people."

"But she was evil right?" Yuffie seemed confused, as did everyone else. If you had asked this group hours before whether they had killed something evil when they destroyed Jenova seven years ago they would have answered, unanimously, 'yes', but now it was harder to be certain.

"There is no way that Jenova was actively influencing Sephiroth's actions before Meteor. She was dead, that is obvious." Rufus stated coolly and the several members of AVALANCHE nearly came unglued at that, but Vincent stopped them from saying anything.

"Rufus is correct, Jenova did not actively influence any of Sephiroth's actions. However, her people shared common knowledge through genetic memory. Sephiroth shared genetics with Jenova, she was, in many ways, actually his mother, or at least a large contributor to his genetic make-up. He would not have known all of her memories, but the memory of the torture and genetic testing that she was put through, along with the other members of her race, would have been passed to him."

"So he was taking revenge for her?" Tifa asked.

"He was taking revenge for both of them. Hojo performed genetic experimentation of Sephiroth as well, her anger at her inability to save her own people would have simply magnified his own anger at his tormentors. She saw the Ori as her enemy, he saw Shinra as his enemy, he attacked the one that was available to him." Vincent had been putting together these puzzle pieces for quite some time now and things had become fairly clear to him, especially after unearthing the information on Jenova.

"Then why try to destroy the planet with Meteor?" Reeve asked "Gaia hadn't done anything to him."

"That's a more difficult answer, but I have a theory" Vincent shifted in his chair and then stood to pace back and forth and work off nervous energy. "From what I found in the library, The Ancients believed that Jenova fell to this planet in a piece of meteor from her homeworld. Her people completely and utterly destroyed their own planet to save themselves and future generations from The Ori. That memory may have been what led him to use Meteor when he realized that he could not destroy Shinra. Also, you must remember that Sephiroth was had partial Ancient genetics** which could have led him to feel the pain of Gaia as the Mako was drained from her. That anger at humanity for using The Planet could very well have added to his need to destroy Gaia and all the humans living on it." The shock on the faces of those gathered there was awful. "But of course, this is all speculation on my part, based on a few facts from the library and Shinra documents."

"Wait," Cloud spoke up, hoping Vincent could clear something up for him. "when I fought Sephiroth five years ago he said something about sailing through space using Gaia as his vessel. Why would he say that?"

"Sephiroth was severely mentally disturbed before he was killed the first time, there is no telling what an extended stay in the Lifestream could have done to his mind by that point. His shared memories of Jenova's life could very well have led him to believe that Jenova's arrival on this planet was planned, that she used the pieces of her planet as a sort of life raft to reach another planet, which is, of course, possible, but highly unlikely."

"Vince, what about this Stargate?" Cid asked.

"As far as I can tell it was a device that was built by The Ancients, it connected planets in a network, like roads from one planet to another. They used it to remove most of Nanaki's ancestors from the planet. Then they sealed it below the temple to prevent The Ori from using it to reach this planet."

"Oh boy, Nanaki is going to be pissed that he missed this" Yuffie whispered.

Shocked silence reigned in the galley of The Sierra until Barrett spoke up and broke the tension.

"Yo, vampy, ever considered going into writing, you could make a fortune if you wrote that as a book." Several people laughed at that and the tension was broken for the moment.

* * *

"Chevron six encoded" the voice of one of the support staff echoed through the rooms at the bottom of the Cheyenne Mountain. The MALP stood ready to send through the gate once the address had been dialed.

"Chevron six locked" the same staff member said, the words were accompanied by the _whoosh _noise of the event horizon forming within the gate. A MALP loaded with supplies sat at the end of the ramp and SG-1 stood in their uniforms next to it. Jack turned toward the window where he knew the General and Henani were still standing and cheekily saluted them before they headed up the ramp and stepped through the edge of the wormhole.

* * *

In the galley of The Sierra the intrepid heroes were all contemplating the information that Vincent had given them when a the ship began to shake. They all looked up, worried, at Cid.

"Why are ya' lookin' at me like that? It isn't Sierra doin' that!" Cid got up from his chair and moved out of the galley, heading back to cargo hold in a rush. They others quickly followed. When they reached the entrance to the ship they found that the ground outside was vibrating violently as well. A loud 'Ker-chunk' sound echoed from inside the building.

"Whatever it is, it's coming from the Temple" Reeve said and the group was immediately in motion again. Five years may have domesticated them somewhat, but they were all still soldiers at heart and nothing made that more obvious than the fact that by the time they had made it to the archive entrance every single one of them had a weapon drawn, even Cloud, who had to stop at his bike to get his sword. They thundered down the stairs, leaving only Reeve, Reno and Rude behind with Rufus.

"This is what I get for being a bodyguard to a guy in a wheelchair, I always miss out on the good stuff."

"Shut up Reno" was echoed from three different people at once.

The shaking intensified as they neared the entrance to the cavern that housed the Stargate. They reached the opening in the archive and paused. They could clearly hear the mechanical whir and the 'ker-chunk' of machinery was much louder here in this enclosed space.

"So this is where the Stargate was kept?" Tifa asked.

"Yes" Vincent said, peering down in to the hole, hoping that his better than average night vision would help see the cause of the noise.

"Was it the only machinery down there?" Yuffie as in a worried and slightly high-pitched tone.

"Yes" he replied again.

"I'm not liking the idea of visitors from another planet. It's not like we have a great track record with beings from space." Tifa said.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Cid said "Let's go meet whatever is about to come of that thing." He immediately charged down the steps, Vincent was only steps behind and soon everyone had followed.

They reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the inner track of the circle shifting and one of the pieces slotting into place with a loud 'ker-chunk'. Then a _whoosh _ of sound as a blue wave radiated out from the circle and then bounced back to form a vertical pool of constantly shifting blue in the center of the circle. For a moment the pool of water was still and then four figures emerged from the gate.

* * *

The cold shock of gate travel hit Jack the same as it did every time they went on a mission. He kept expecting it to get easier, but it never did. At least it wasn't the kind of cold that made his knees ache or he would had to have given up the field and started flying a desk a long time ago.

It was a rush, stepping into a pool of blue on side and then seconds letter emerging from a wormhole on another planet. He refused to be surprised these days at anything he found on the other side of the gate anymore. Even when they sent a MALP through first, many things could change from what they saw then to what a place looked like an hour later when they stepped through the gate.

This time though he was surprised, he was fairly certain he had never seen a stranger group of people than the one that confronted he and the rest of SG-1 when they stepped through. There were six of them, standing in a semi-circle at the opposite end of the cavern where the stairs where place. Two women, both black haired, though one had short hair and a short stature to go with it and a headband tied around her forehead. The other woman had long flowing hair and was dressed in black, she was taller than Carter. The four men were even stranger. One of the men was built like Teal'c and had about the same skin color. His hair was cut in a short military style and he seemed to have a metal prosthetic that he couldn't see all that clearly in the low light. The man standing closest had the spikiest blonde hair that Jack had ever seen, it seemed to defy gravity and blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, and he had a sword that was nearly taller than he was strapped to his back. The other blonde man had short hair and he had what looked to be a cigarette dangling from his mouth and what looked like a pole arm in his hand that he was leaning on. The last man had black hair even longer than the woman, he had a gun in one hand and his eyes glowed red.

Jack got the feeling that these people could be dangerous if provoked. Daniel, of course, decided now was the time for his "peaceful explorers speech".

"Hi guys, my name is Dr. Daniel Jackson and these are my teammates. We've come here from another planet through the Stargate, we're just explorers."

If they group had looked dangerous before, something from that speech made them even more dangerous. Weapons were pulled into ready grips, looking ready to drop SG-1 where they stood.

"I keep telling you not to use that speech Danny" Jack muttered. "Hey guys, there's got to be some way to resolve this calmly right?" he said to the other group. For some reason he wasn't too confident.

* * *

*I know in the game this was not possible, but hey…artistic license okay. I mean…so what if Cid flattened a few glowy petrified trees when landing. I mean it's not like there are any Ancients left to get mad at me for…oh…uh, hi there Oma. I'll get right on fixing those trees…sorry.*hides*

** I can't remember all the details from the game, but I seem to remember this being mentioned. If I was wrong and Sephiroth never had Ancient DNA then we'll just say this was in those Shinra documents that Vincent mentioned.

**A/N: I hope the lateness of the chapter does not detract from your enjoyment. Also, I'd appreciate it you would PM or leave me a review and tell me if you prefer I put notes about certain parts of the story at the end the way I did in this chapter, or if you prefer the notes in the story.**


	9. Chapter 8: Getting To Know All About You

**A/N: Okay, this is slightly better update time. I have a good excuse (I always do) I got a second job as a book editor and I've been putting in a lot of work editing a book on politics for a good author friend of mine. Also…my computer died and I had to get it repaired. I was inconsolable until I found out the battery was dead, but it was covered under my Best Buy warranty. (Seriously, best thing ever!) I've also been battling the symptoms of my PMDD the past few days. It hasn't been pretty, I've pretty much alienated all of my family because of the irrational anger fits and depressive episodes…**

**So…yeah, all those stories about writers, artists and musicians being temperamental…they are all true, lol.**

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The suspicious glances the group kept throwing the SGC's main team would not have been so bad, Carter thought, if it hadn't been for the pointy and dangerous weapons that most of them seemed to be carrying. The spiky haired man was in a heated, but hushed, argument with the Teal'c sized mountain of a man. Carter was currently trying to decide which one seemed to be the leader of the group. It was unfortunate that they were speaking in such hushed tones, SG-1 knew they spoke the same language since they had been quite able to understand the cigarette smoking blonde that had come over along the black haired gunman and disarmed them. That had happened after the first stand off and the first whispered argument between the whole group. The two men had come over cautiously, with their weapons lowered.

"Now look" the blonde man said, the twang in his voice reminding Sam of summer's spent on her cousin's ranch in Texas "we don't want any violence and seein' how it was you that showed up all unexpected, I think it's only right that you put those weapons down and take a seat while we decided what to do."

"What to do?" Daniel had asked. The blonde man didn't say anything, the black haired man spoke up, his voice dark and low, like a dark rain cloud covering the sun.

"You are not the first…visitors that our planet has had from other planets. The last one did not make life pleasant for anyone." He said "We will not harm you as long as you do not try to harm us."

"Alright, I can live with that. Put your weapons down kids, let's take a seat while they talk." They had removed their weapons, leaving them in a neat pile next to steps leading up the Stargate. Of course they didn't need to mention that the Zats under their vests were weapons.

Carter's memories were interrupted by Jack.

"We're not the first visitors? What do you think that means Carter?"

"I don't know…the Goa'uld maybe?" She answered.

"Danny?" Jack asked.

"No, I don't think so. This cave doesn't show any signs of being used by the Goa'uld. No hieroglyphs for one thing."

"Perhaps the inhabitants buried the Stargate as the Tau'ri did on Earth." Teal'c said.

"It's possible," Daniel shrugged "but we won't know until we get out of this cave."

"Let's not do anything to anger the locals. We'll wait and see what they decided." Jack said "speaking of the locals, what do you make of them Carter?"

"I think they are a military unit, still not sure who the leader is though."

"Military? Really? They don't look cohesive enough to be a military unit."

"Maybe not, but the way they all watch each other and the surroundings speaks of training. And all of them are wearing the same pink ribbon tied around their left bicep. I'm sure that has to mean something."

Jack looked closer and sure enough, around each person's left bicep a pink ribbon was tied in a bow.

"That's a funny symbol for a military unit" he said.

"That's just your ethnocentricity talking Jack." Daniel said "Just because the color pink has connotations of femininity on Earth doesn't mean it has the same meaning on this planet."

"Sure, sure Danny, I know that, I still think it's funny." Daniel glared at Jack and then his face went into the neutral mask that was the one reason Jack didn't play poker with him for cash. Jack turned to see that the group was approaching them.

* * *

After the group had stepped through the Stargate and introduced themselves as explorers from another planet the AVALANCHE members became understandably suspicious. After a brief, whispered discussion they finally decided that attacking them right off was a bad idea and Vincent suggested they try to peacefully disarm them and see their reaction.

When Cid and Vincent returned from doing that they had a favorable report.

"They didn't argue, I'm thinking they are telling the truth about being peaceful." Cid said.

"Then why are they carrying so many Gaia-damned weapons?" Barrett hissed. Tifa cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you saying that you wouldn't be carrying that many weapons, or more, if you were going off to explore a new and possibly hostile environment?" Barrett muttered sheepishly at that and then looked at Cloud.

"Well what do you think Spikey? Should we trust them? Personally I think we should tell them to go back to where they came from and give 'em a good kick to get them going. "

"I don't think trust is what I would go for, but we should listen to what they have to say before telling them to get lost." Cloud looked at the rest of the group "I think we should take them up to the temple, it will be easier to talk to them there."

"What!" Barrett replied "Do we really want them up there?"

"They can't hurt anything, there aren't any weapons in the archives." Vincent said.

"They might be able to explain this Stargate thing better. Vincent couldn't find much." Cloud said.

"Fine, have it your way Spikey. I'm keeping an eye on them though."

"Good, we all should." Cloud said and started to walk toward the group before stopping and turning back around. "And Yuffie?"

"Yeah" the Wutainese ninja looked at him.

"Don't steal from them."

"I wasn't gonna!" The rest of the group looked at her disbelievingly. "Okay, fine…I won't, happy now?"

"Very" Tifa said in a deadpan voice.

* * *

The group stood in front of SG-1 in a loose triangular formation, with the spikey haired blond at the front of the group. Apparently their question about who was the leader would not have to be asked.

"We've decided to listen to what you have to say. You can collect your weapons if you swear you will not use them against us." The leader said.

"Well" Jack stretched the word out into two syllables. "I'll take that deal, but with one change. I promise not to attack you if you promise not to attack me." A faint smile ghosted over the leader's mouth.

"That will work." He gestured towards the stairs. "Let's all go up to main building, it will be far more comfortable to talk there." He, and the rest of the group, moved toward the stairs. Yuffie ran ahead to tell Rufus, Reno, Rude and Reeve about the visitors. SG-1 collected their weapons and followed. The large man with the prosthetic arm and a distrustful look on his face brought up the rear.

The stairs led them up into a room that was small, but jammed from floor to ceiling with books in various languages, one of which was definitely Ancient. Daniel looked like he was going to hyperventilate.

"Close your mouth, Danny-boy. You're close to drooling on the books." Daniel snapped his eyes up to Jack's and glared. He was obviously still angry about the danger-magnet comment from earlier.

"Perhaps later you could look at the library here" Vincent said to Daniel.

"That would be great, these texts have to be hundreds of years old."

"Thousands" Vincent corrected off-hand. Jack thought that a bucket might be needed for Daniel as he heard that and saw the other rooms filled with books in the corridor. As they ascended the next set of stairs he spoke again.

"How have they been so well preserved."

"That's probably the only thing Vince hasn't been able to figure out" the blond with the cigarette said with a laugh. The black haired man, apparently named Vince, elbowed the blond good-naturedly.

They reached what appeared to be the main hall of the building they were in. There was a pool of water with a stone platform sticking out into the middle, the rest of the ground was worn smooth around the water, and there was a motorcycle of some sort parked next to the exit. An alcove on one side had several rough-hewn stone benches arranged in a semi-circle*. A group of 4 men was already there. One man sitting on the benches, one in a wheelchair and the final two, a man with shockingly red hair and a bald man, stood behind the man in the wheelchair. Yuffie was bouncing around between where they exited and benches. These benches were where the group walked to sit, Yuffie bouncing ahead.

"Introductions would be probably be best to start with." The woman with the long black hair said as she settled down next to the leader. Jack finally noticed the matching rings on their hands** and realized they must be married.

"Um, right." Daniel said. "Well, I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"I'm Major Samantha Carter," she gave a little wave "just call me Sam though."

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill…two Ls" he specified, earning a snort of laughter from Daniel.

"I am Teal'c." The other group waited, obviously expecting a follow up and shaking themselves when they got none.

"I'm Cloud Strife" the leader of the group said.

"Tifa Lockheart Strife" the woman next to him said with a smile. Well that answered any doubt Jack might have had about their status.

"Reeve Tuesti" said the man who had been sitting on the bench when they walked in.

"Rufus Shinra, I would shake your hand, but moving is so much work these days." The man in wheelchair said with a self-deprecating laugh.

"I'm Reno and that's Rude. We're his bodyguards." The redhead said, jerking a thumb towards Rufus Shinra.

"Vincent Valentine" the black haired gunman said. Carter wondered momentarily why his name made her think of a mob boss, but then brushed the thought away. ***

"Cid Highwind" the shorthaired blond said as he flicked ash off the end of his cigarette.

The bouncing ball of hyperactivity, jumped up suddenly and bowed to them. "Yuffie Kisaragi, at your service. And don't worry…I won't steal anything from you. Mr. Grumpy-pants over there made me promise." She said, motioning at Cloud.

"Uh, thanks?" Daniel said, not quite sure what to make of the girl.

"You're welcome!" She bounced back to sitting and fidgeting on one of the benches. Her constant motion made it clear to all of SG-1 why she had been given a whole bench to herself. Or maybe that had something to do with the thievery comment.

The man who had been suspicious of them the whole time just leaned against the wall in the alcove and crossed his arms with a grunt of "Barrett" to tell them his name. ****

* * *

Introductions finished, Cloud wasn't quite sure where to go from there. Luckily Vincent seemed to know exactly what to ask.

"Where is it that you come from?"

"We're from a country called the United States, on the planet Earth." Daniel started out. "The Stargate is used by our government and military to seek out alliances with other planets and advanced technology to aid in our fight with a parasitic race called the Goa'uld."

"Why did you decide to come to Gaia?" Cloud asked.

"Well, actually that's an interesting story –" Daniel started.

"Yes, interesting and incredibly long if Danny has his way." Jack said, Daniel glared again and Jack was suddenly grateful he had both Sam and Teal'c and an expanse of empty space between benches separating he and Daniel. His leg throbbed with phantom pain from the memory of the last kick it had been given. "Anyway, another team of explorers came back from a planet the other day and brought one of the natives with him. He said he was an elder of a race of beings called the Hari." Jack noted that all of the group, but especially Vincent and Cloud took notice of that. "He claimed his people had fled their home planet through the Stargate when they feared extermination by another race that had become corrupted by an alien being." Cloud's face looked pained and Jack could barely make out his lips moving, saying something like 'Jenova'. "So, in exchange for some tech he asked us to send a team through and see what had become of the last few members of the race that stayed behind."

"These 'Hari'" Vincent asked "What do they look like?"

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Look," Barrett said "you want to know if any of them are left right? We can help, but only if we know what they look like."

"They are wolf-like, with red fur and those that are mature have flames that burn on the tips of their tail." Teal'c finally spoke, shocking the other group with the sheer number of words that had come out of him.

"That's great!" came a shout from Yuffie, who was frantically bouncing around in her sit.

"Calm down girl!" Barrett shouted.

"Oh stop being such a poop head Barrett." Yuffie responded.

"You five, fool?" He retorted. "You better hope you weren't talkin' like that 'round my daughter when you were babysitting!"

"Hah! You've said worse things when you were tucking her in at night!"

"Hmmph, whatever…fool." Barrett looked over at Teal'c, whose right eyebrow had been steadily climbing during the exchange. "Whatchu lookin' at?"

"It is not my intent to offend you, you simply remind me of an actor from Earth. I believe his name is Mr. T."***** Jack, Daniel and Sam all began snickering at that as they began picturing the two men side by side. Barrett had no come back for that and merely leaned back on his bench and crossed his arms.

The AVALANCHE members were not sure what had just happened, but the laughter from the group cut some of the tension that had been filling the room. When they finally got themselves under control, Daniel spoke up.

"Yuffie, why are you so excited?" She looked over at the others, questioningly, and Cloud nodded.

"Because, Nanaki has been looking for his people for soooooo long and this will make him so happy! He didn't want to be alone and now he'll know he isn't!"

"Nanaki?" Sam asked.

"Nanaki is the last Hari on Gaia. We, and he, didn't even know the name of his race until recently." Cloud said.

"The last? What about his family?" Sam continued.

"Raised by humans" Tifa answered "In Cosmo Canyon, on another continent."

"I'll try to find him soon" Yuffie said "He had just left on a search when Cid came to pick us all up to meet here. He can't exactly use a phone, no thumbs, so it's hard to find him sometimes."

"You only came here for that?" Cid asked.

"Well…" Daniel hesitated "there was something else actually. It's not exactly…normal."

"Normal, what's that?" Cid drawled out with a laugh. "Trust me kid, if it's one thing AVALANCHE knows how to deal with, it's the things that ain't normal."

"AVALANCHE?" Jack asked.

"Now that" Cloud said "is a long story. Why don't we start with yours."

"Well this all started on a planet called Vis Uban." Daniel started.

"Uh…Danny, maybe you better tell them the bit before that." Jack said.

"Which part?"

"The part where you died."

The look on the faces of the men and women in the group across from them was totally worth the elbow in the gut he got from Carter.

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**A/N2: I'm not terribly proud of this chapter…something seems off about it, but no matter how many times I rewrote sections they never sounded better. So, here it is. I hope you like it anyway and hopefully with this chapter out of the way some of it will be easier to write. **

**Set up is not the most fun to write. (or read, in some cases) I would say 2 or 3 chapters left, maximum, before I get to real plot of this story. Rufus hasn't laid out all his cards yet…but seriously guys, when does he EVER lay out all his cards?**

**Also…apologies for Yuffie's characterization. I was watching Cowboy Bebop the other night and I think, somehow, she became the Wutainese version of Ed….**

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*Artistic license, but I needed more in the main room than just the water where Aerith died *sniff sniff* Besides, if this was a temple of some sort then there would have to be seats somewhere right?

**Rings are a fairly old tradition, not sure if they are old enough to date back to ancient Norse culture, but let's say it's the same on both planets.

***Small Homage to EddyLeonhart's Sqeifer fic "Undercover Lovers" and his character Vincent Valentinius. Couldn't help it! Read the story if you like slash and Squall/Seifer, it's long, but soooo GOOD! (Shameless fic plugging done now)

****Introductions! I know…I know, not really interesting, but it had to be done and I tried to make them amusing as possible.

*****Don't tell me you never thought, just once, that if they ever made a live action FF:VII movie, Mr. T would play Barrett. I have a whole list of actors for every part…


	10. 9: Daniel is dead? It must Tuesday

**A/N: It's been nearly a year since my last update. I have no good excuse for this. Though I will mention that the motherboard on my previous laptop died in October and I lost all of my notes for this story and I've been working on two original novels and a non-fiction book as well. Fanfiction took a backburner because of my original work. **

**Now I need a break from my original work and I'm busy stressing out about getting accepted to Journalism school so I pulled out the old chapters and decided to try writing the next chapter. I'm really sorry it's been so long.**

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"You died?" Cloud was the first to break the silence.

"A few times actually…" Daniel admitted, a bit sheepishly. His history with death was so well known back at Stargate Command that people didn't even panic anymore. Jack had joked more than once about hearing other SG teams say things like 'Dr. Jackson is dead? It must be Tuesday." Then again…he wasn't so sure Jack had been joking about that.

"Well yeah" Jack said "But this was a pretty specific time." Their hosts looked very interested in hearing the tale and Daniel figured it was easier to start at the beginning.

"Yes, it is. It was on a planet names Kelowna. We were working with the scientists on that planet and I was exposed to a lethal amount of radiation from a reactor. I was dying and Oma Desala, one of the Ancients," Daniel noticed the men and women listening to the tale perked up at the mentioning of 'Ancients'. "guided me to ascension, life on a higher plane of existence. It prevented me from dying completely, but I was cut off from my friends."

"How did you get back to this plane of existence?" Rufus asked.

"I have no memories of my time as an ascended being, but from what the rest of the team told me" Daniel gestured at the rest of SG-1 "I was kicked out for interfering in human affairs too many times. Ascended beings are extremely powerful, so there are rules in place to stop us from getting too deeply involved with 'lower' species."

"What started on Vis Uban then?" Rufus again, while the members of AVALANCHE were willing to let Daniel tell the story at his own pace, the Shinra president was more accustomed to digging for pertinent facts.

"Vis Uban was the planet the Ancients left me on after I was made human again. I had no memories of my time as an Ancient, in fact I had no memories of my past at all. If Jack, Sam and Teal'c hadn't found me on that planet I would probably still be there. That was two months ago and I've regained most of my memories from before I ascended, but that year is still a blank, except for the recurring dreams I've been having. That's one of the other reasons I wanted to visit your planet so badly. There is a woman in my dreams, an Ancient who I think I knew while I was ascended. She has been giving me a warning that something big and bad is about to happen and the two clues she gave me were 'Cetra' and 'Midgar'. The Hari elder who visited us called the Ancients on this planet "The Cetra" and that led us here. Does the word 'Midgar' mean anything to you?" Daniel finally stopped talking and caught his breath. The woman with long black hair, Tifa he reminded himself, spoke up.

"Midgar is one of the largest cities on Gaia. It's the city where Cloud and I live. It's been the center of several big events in the last decade." Something about how she said the words "big events" said that there was much more to that story. Daniel and the rest of SG-1, if he was judging their faces correctly, hoped they would hear it.

"What about these dreams you've had? Who is this woman in them? What does she have to do with our planet?" Rufus asked.

"I don't know who she is. She's communicating with me, but I can't remember how I know her. It's part of the year I lost." Cloud looked pensive and the rest of his team listened as he finally asked what was on his mind.

"These dreams…can you describe them?"

"Sure, um…well they always start out the same. I'm standing in a field of yellow and white flowers and then she appears. Sometimes she's behind me and I can only hear her voice, sometimes I can see her face. She has long brown hair and she's always wearing the same clothing" Cloud cut him off.

"A pink dress and red jacket?" Daniel was stunned for a second and then he responded.

"Yes…, but how…" The same stunned looked was on all the faces of their hosts. Tifa breathed out a sigh along with a word.

"Aerith…"

"Do you really think…?" Yuffie started to ask, her usual energy gone. She sat frozen, still as stone bench she was sitting on.

"Who else could it be?" Tifa asked and Cloud nodded.

"It wouldn't be the first time she helped us from beyond the grave."

"The Stigma…" Rufus trailed off.

"Yes, she provided the cure…and she brought me back to life at the church. She was there, I saw her and Zach at the church, just for a moment, but they were there." Cloud told the group. They had seemed to forget about the presence of SG-1 for the moment, but they were very okay with being forgotten in this case. They were learning a lot about their hosts just from this conversation.

"And the kids" Tifa said, the rest of the group looked at her curiously. "Oh come on, they told us that _she _told them to wait at the church for Cloud. Who else could they have meant? I was pretty sure about that at the time, now I'm certain of it."

"It sure makes sense" Barrett spoke up for the first time since Teal'c had called him 'Mr. T'. Cid nodded and chewed on his cigarette as he considered the question he was going to ask.

"Daniel, right?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you say that 'ascended beings' weren't allowed to interfere in human problems?"

"Well…yes, but the woman in my dreams said that she was being allowed to bend the rules because cleansing the taint from the 'lifestream' of the planet was more important. I don't know what that means, but perhaps it's more than just a human problem now."

"'Taint'?" Tifa asked allowed and then answered her own question. "The Geostigma!"

"Jenova's legacy" Vincent agreed "that would be the taint she is likely referring to."

"but I thought she got rid of that. I mean…the stigma is gone." Yuffie said. Vincent considered this.

"That may have only been a symptom of the taint. If Jenova's legacy is still trapped in the lifestream it could kill the planet."*

"Wait a minute." Jack cut in. "The Hari elder mentioned 'Jenova' to us before we came here. He called her 'The Great Calamity'."

"An appropriate name for her, her genetic legacy has nearly torn our planet apart more than once. I recently translated the contents of a journal that told the story of the part her legacy played in the destruction of the Cetra." Vincent told Jack. "The few remaining Cetra sealed her body away in the crater where she first landed on Gaia. They destroyed their technology and all the research they had before many of the 'Ascended' and left the humans on this planet to survive on their own." Rufus broke into the discussion as well.

"Several decades ago the Shinra company, under the direction of my father, unearthed the body of Jenova and the genetic code had been preserved enough to study it. The lead scientists believed that, combined with Mako treatments, SOLDIER's that were genetically modified with her DNA would be the perfect super soldiers." SG-1 all looked horrified, aside from Teal'c who had seen Goa'uld do many of the same things to increase their armies strength. "Fortunately the DNA modifications were not affective on human genetic structures, but one of the scientists discovered that humans that contained strains of Cetra DNA were receptive to the modification. Hojo's first experiment was his own son, Sephiroth was the perfect SOLDIER, but the modifications eventually drove him insane and he nearly destroyed the planet." Rufus looked ashamed. "If it was not for AVALANCHE he would have destroyed Gaia."**

"Avalanche?" Sam asked.

"Yes" Rufus said and then gestured at the men and woman wearing the pink ribbons. "This is AVALANCHE. Former terrorists, turned saviors of the world."

"Hey!" Barrett shouted, offended by the terrorist moniker.

"Calm down Barrett" Tifa said "we _were _terrorists. Or don't you remember blowing up all those power plants once upon a time?" Barrett coughed and settled back into his seat.

"Terrorists? Really?" Sam asked.

"Well yeah, I s'pose so…" Barrett admitted.

"In their defense" Rufus shocked all of the members of AVALANCHE with that, he had never defended their actions from before the Sephiroth incident. "they were right. The Mako reactors were a danger to Gaia, even if they weren't an actual health risk for humans. Shinra Power Company was sucking the planet dry of its life blood. My father, as well as myself, were not too interested in listening to anyone's opinions on the subject either." He shrugged. "We all learned our lesson in the end."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. No one was quite sure how to respond to Rufus' unexpected show of support. Finally Yuffie broke the silence by jumping up from her seat and running over to Rufus.

"Aw! Rufus, that was so sweet!" She attached herself to him in a hug that looked almost painful and everyone in the room started giggling at the look of almost fear on Rufus' face. Even Rude was chuckling as he tried to detach Yuffie from his boss. He finally pried her off and she started to walk back to her seat.

"Yuffie?" Reno stopped her.

"What?" She looked shifty.

"Give the boss-man his wallet back." He said, proving that even when he was laughing too hard to breathe that he was still good at his job. Yuffie looked put out. She flounced back the wheelchair-bound man and dropped Rufus' wallet into his lap.

"You guys never let me have any fun." She pouted and SG-1 couldn't help laughing again.

Once everyone gained their composure again, Rufus spoke up.

"Since it seems we are all laying all our cards out on the table…I have something I need to share with all of you." He waved one hand to encompass everyone in the room, including SG-1. "From what Dr. Jackson has said, I think you should be included. I don't believe in coincidences and this dream about 'something bad' happening soon is quite probably link to what an excavation team found several days ago."***

SG-1 didn't look surprised. They didn't believe in coincidences either.

The one thought going through the minds of AVALANCHE was that saving the world really ought to be a once in a life-time opportunity, but they had a feeling this was going to be the beginning of opportunity #3 for them.

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***A/N: Artistic license…I don't know what the taint could do to the planet, but I'm the writer. I am god in this universe. If I want to taint to destroy Gaia then it can do it. *evil laugh* **

****Okay, a bit of an info dump, but we all know the story (even if I've added my own spin to a few details.) and SG-1 needed to know the background. I may explain a few more things in detail later, in a more one on one setting. **

*****Oh don't you just love how I still leave you with a nasty cliff-hanger even when I'm trying to get back on your good side after almost a year hiatus?**


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